Pokemon Tales Red
by Leinil
Summary: After witnessing a Pokemon League battle, Red, who until that time didn't have a plan for his life, decides to devote himself to becoming a Pokemon trainer. He soon finds out that the world is much bigger than he thought. This doesn't stop him from trying his best while also running head first into danger. There is some romance. Try reading more than one chapter before you drop it.
1. 1: Ready

Hi. This is not the first thing I wrote but it is the first thing I wrote in english. I'm fairly good at this language, if I can say so myself but I still make many stupid mistakes. Like, there wasn't yet a time where I wouldn't misspell "perceive". I'm also not really a good writer. Not only because I'm all over the place, but also because I never want to write. Sometimes I come up with an idea and I'm like "This is the most brilliant thing ever". Aaand then I don't do anything with that idea. I finally got enough spare time and energy to write something again. This isn't one of those brilliant ideas. This is just a mediocre Pokemon story. Can I do that "e" with a line over it? Okay. I'm getting off-track. This story is supposed to mostly follow what happens in Pokemon Fire Red, but with various inspirations from the anime, the Pokemon Special manga and also my dumb ideas. I've been planning it for a long time. I think I have like 150 chapters planned. When looking over some of them I sometimes go "But, this doesn't make sense. What kinda idiot would write something like this?" It... It was me... I was that idiot. But then again, that means nothing. When I get there... If I get there, I can try to fix stuff to make more sense. There's no guarantee that even now I'm a sane enough person to write something comprehensive. When it comes to this chapter, my plan for it was basically like a 3 sentence summary and somehow more stuff happened in that summary than the chapter itself. But then I decided that the second chapter could end up being too short so I ended this one earlier than planned. This way, you get the introductory first chapter and sometimes in the future, hopefully, an action packed second chapter. That's... that's the plan. So yeah. Enjoy. Or don't.

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 1: Ready.

This is a story. That is true. This certainly can be called a story. It has a beginning, a middle and... Scratch that. It does not have an end. It does not really have a middle yet. There are things that will happen after the beginning, but how can one say if something has a middle if it does not have an end? That's pretty confusing to me. But then again, I'm not a naturally bright person. But, you know what is bright? The sun. And it was bright all the same on that day that a certain teenage boy decided to embark on a journey that would define his whole life.

. . .

His name was Red, which gives you an insight into how imaginative were his parents. That kinda name can really influence a kid. Red's favorite color was red. His jacket was red, his hat too. Not his pants though. That's just bad fashion sense.

Red lived in the Kanto region. If somebody is not sure where that is, the only clue is this that it's right next to Johto region. But at this time in the story it's not really important. Red himself was too preoccupied with other things to even know about the existence of other regions. He rarely even had the chance to live his hometown, Viridian City.

His parents were a pretty average couple. His dad had a small grocery shop and his mother worked at a local office. They were pretty carefree and let Red decide what he wanted to do with his time. Sometimes, he attended the local school, but at other times he would wander around doing all kinds of stuff that relaxed him; fishing, playing football with friends, exploring the forest.

One day, when he was about 13 years old, he got hurt when he was attacked by a wild Mankey. His mother was pretty worried and wanted to start setting some rules as to keep him safe, but his father was more lenient and instead chose to provide Red with a partner that would help him during any future dangers. This partner was an Eevee. Red and the Pokemon quickly formed a strong bond. This kinda alienated Red from other teenagers, because most of them did not have Pokemon. It was fairly normal that a person who got their first Pokemon would set out on a journey to become a Pokemon trainer. Red wasn't too interested in it. He had loving parents, a great friend and all the time in the world to do whatever he wanted, so there really was no reason for him to begin a journey that would limit him to going from city to city and gathering badges.

One day, when Red was at his friends birthday, all the other kids were preoccupied with the presents that the boy received. Red knew that the only reason he was invited was because the mother of the other boy pressured him into it, since she felt bad for Red. While others were playing outside, he went into the house to get himself a snack, and he noticed the boy's dad watching television. Luck would have it, that it was the semi-finale of the Kanto Pokemon League. Agatha, a famous trainer who was part of the Elite Four was using her Gengar in a fight against another trainer's Nidorino. Gengar was trying to hit the opponent with a Shadow Claw but Nidorino managed to avoid the attack and used Peck. At that moment, the father noticed Red and asked him if he needed something. Red remembered why he went into the house but was kinda embarrassed so he left without saying anything. He didn't go for the snacks. He left the party entirely.

On his way home, during dinner and when laying in bed, he was still thinking about the fight he saw. For the next couple of days, Red mostly stayed indoors, watching various videos on Pokemon on the internet and reading books about tactics used in Pokemon fights. Soon, he and Eevee would spend a lot less time playing around and a lot more, venturing out into Viridian Forest to fight the wild Pokemon there. Finally, Red decided to talk to his parents about the possibility of being a Pokemon trainer.

"You're going to be a Pokemon trainer?" his dad responded in surprise "Well, if that's what you want to do, you should go for it."

"What are you talking about?" the mother interrupted angrily "I know that we have decided to allow him a lot of freedom but I thought that was because you wanted him to have a satisfying childhood, so he would have no problem with taking over your business down the line."

"I mean... that kinda was my plan... but I don't really want to limit him. My father worked in a coal mine and wanted me to do the same, but I knew I wouldn't be suitable for that kind of job so I decided to do what I wanted to do and hoped it would work out. That's just how people in our family do it."

"I guess... but... Red, are you really sure this is what you want to do?"

The boy held up his chin with a hand and made a focused face while humming all the while to finally respond "Yes. At least for now. I don't want to set a specific goal for myself but if I at any point realize that this Pokemon trainer thing is not working out, I will return home. How about that?"

The mother, still visibly concerned, looked at her husband, then back at her son and nodded.

"If you are going to be a Pokemon trainer" said the father "there is something that I could arrange that would help you."

"What is it?"

"I don't want to make any promises so give some time, and when I'm sure whether this thing will work out or not, that's when you'll be free to go on your journey. Till then, just focus on preparing. We will give you some starting money, but it'll be good if you can learn to earn some yourself before going on a journey. Is that okay with you?"

"I guess... But what do you want me to do?"

"I didn't really have anything in mind... but... you are pretty good at fishing. You could try selling the fish you catch."

"Okay. I'll do that."

. . .

Some time passed. It's been already 2 years since Red got his Eevee but only a couple months since he started being interested in becoming a Pokemon trainer. Over that time, his previous friends showed more interest, noticing him constantly training with his Pokemon and earning money. They felt too embarrassed to talk to him about what he was doing so they learned from his parents about him becoming a Pokemon trainer. They all started to feel bad about how they treated him and also kinda jealous. Many of them were inspired by Red deciding to take fate into his hands and working towards something. A lot of them still did not know what they wanted to do with their lives and weren't too keen to find any goals for the future, so seeing how Red was the only one doing something at that time, they started to feel bad about themselves.

However, soon a couple of them started to focus more on their studies, realizing that they need them to get the future jobs they wanted. Others began helping at local businesses to get a feel of what it means to be a working adult. Even though Red was the first one to take initiative, it actually seemed like his future was the one which was most unstable. Nevertheless, they were grateful to Red for the unwitting inspiration that he provided them. As a show of gratitude, when the day on which he would start his journey arrived, they threw him a big farewell party. There were many hugs, tears and apologies. Finally, it was time for Red to learn what his father hoped to arrange for him and if the whole thing worked out.

"So, you're gonna be on your way soon" said his dad, with a voice filled with pride but also a hint of sadness.

His mother was standing behind the father, holding a tissue she used already several times to wipe her tears.

"Yes. Me and Eevee have been doing a lot of training... I'm really excited for this" Red responded.

The father had to do a double take, because for a second there, Red seemed much taller than he really was, and his eyes looked almost ablaze with raging fire.

"Have you heard about Professor Oak?"

"Of course. He came up many times during my studies. I didn't really get much of the sciency stuff but he's supposed to be some kind of genius from Pallet Town."

"Yes. That's him. I heard from a friend that Professor Oak was creating something like a scholarship. He provides beginning Pokemon trainers with Pokemon and in exchange they have to regularly send him data from their Pokedexes."

"Poke-wha?"

"Yeah... I also don't get the "sciency" stuff. Anyway, I was worried that Professor wouldn't want to have you work for him because you've already got yourself a Pokemon but it turned out that he still had one Pokemon left to give out. Normally he wouldn't give it to somebody who already has a Pokemon but this one is a special case."

"How come?"

"I heard this one is a real pain in the a..."

"Honey!" his wife interrupted him.

"Sorry... Anyway, he will give you the Pokemon and if you can manage to tame him, you can take him on your journey."

"That's... that's awesome! You hear that, Eevee?!" Red yelled excited as he picked up his Pokemon and spun around a couple times.

"But remember Red, be care..." his mother begun, but she was too late.

Red was so ecstatic that he already ran off without even saying goodbye to his parents. After about 10 meters he realized that and turned around to yell "Don't worry! I'm gonna become a great trainer!"

"He seems a lot more sure of what he's doing than before" the mother commented.

"I said it many times already. When someone in our family decides on something, they won't change their mind, they won't stop until their achieve their goals... Even if these goals are kinda hard to define."

. . .

Red stepped onto a great boulder, inhaled powerfully and declared "The southern wind is blowing. 'Tis the scent of adventure."

A moment later, a cloud of dandelion seeds, caused by a nearby Spearow, flew into his face, causing him to sneeze and fall of the boulder. Eevee, who was previously playing with one dandelion himself, ran to his trainer with a worried expression on his face. Red quickly got up and proceeded to massage a bump that formed on the back of his head.

"Owww. Darn it. Whoever is responsible for that will answer dearly to... oo... oo... Aaah! It still hurts!"

Red run around the boulder with Eevee following closely behind. When he noticed the Spearow playing in the grass, he pointed angrily at him "You!"

The bird, previously oblivious to the teenagers presence, and clearly not intending to do anybody any harm, looked at both of them in confusion.

"Eevee, give him a what for!"

This time, the dog Pokemon also looked at his trainer with a face that clearly showed that he had no idea what "a what for" is.

"What? You know what to do. You give him... like "a what" and then... like "fo..." after a while Red realized that he was not getting through to his Pokemon "Just... Just use Tackle."

When he finally received a command he could understand, Eevee quickly run through the field of flowers and slammed into the bird Pokemon with such a force that he flew a couple meters, not using his wings, mind you, and hit a tree standing where the flowers ended. Red and Eevee waited a couple seconds to see if the opponent would get up.

Finally, the Spearow got on his feet and gave Eevee an angry look. Right after that, he mustered his strength, clearly showing that the attack affected him greatly, and took to the sky. He gave out a couple of long screechy cries. After that, there came more cries. Reverberating like an echo, they deafened Red and Eevee.

Soon, they realized that the sounds came from a whole flock of Spearows who made that tree and a couple other ones their homes. About 50 angry birds were getting ready to attack, and Red realized that one stupid move could be the thing that causes his journey to end prematurely.

To be continued...

* * *

Maybe here I'll put like a taste of what's to come. So... uh... the next chapter is supposed to be titled "Firewall", unless I find something better and change it. But it's like. You read "fire". You read "wall". You already have some kind of idea of what this could mean... or not.


	2. 2: Firewall

Hi again. I didn't expect to write the second chapter so fast but since I had free time and I'm actually doing alright at University, I decided to use my energy to create the next one and it came out pretty alright.

I kept the title I mentioned previously, even though I was trying to come up with something which better encapsulated what this chapter is about. But with the way it is formed, it was kinda hard. Maybe you'll understand after reading it.

What else? I didn't expect it to come out so long. I mean... it's not really that long, but I hoped to set a standard for myself. Like, each chapter would be around the same lenght. This one has about 1000 more words in it. On the other hand, I feel like the next one is gonna be extremely short, but then again, I didn't expect this one to be this long either.

When writing the first chapter I mostly listened to soundtracks from Pokemon movies, but this time I listened to The Pillows since I saw an interview with them talking about their work on FLCL. I realized that I never listened to any of their music, besides the one used in anime so I decided to catch up. I went through 4-5 albums while writing this and they made everything seem go faster but at the same time kind off more pleasant. This chapter is definitely more humorous, so maybe some of that is thanks to their music. If you've never listend, give it a try. Or don't. Also, don't worry if its not your cup of tea. This can apply to both their music, as well as to my writing.

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 2: Firewall.

Seeing the advancing flock of bird Pokemon, Red quickly evaluated the situation as to make the best possible choice of action. His Eevee tried to put up a brave front but his legs were shaking from , he realized that there was no ground beneath his trembling feet.

As it turned out, Red picked the dog up and decided to make a run for it. For a while, Eevee was disoriented, but he finally got his wits about him and looked backwards, in the direction of the angry birds. Seeing as they were getting closer with each passing second, the Pokemon felt completely helpless, but nevertheless, barked at them angrily. With Red holding him tightly, it was really the only thing he could do.

Red was trying to multitask during the whole situation. He decided to run through the woods, instead of the road or the flower fields as he hoped it would make it harder for the birds to follow them. His suspicions turned out to be correct. Spearows moved like a phalanx, in a perfect formation, which caused some of them to hit the trees whenever the whole flock tried to fly through tighter gaps. Red would not stop to count them, but by his approximation, about 30 of them still remained in hot pursuit.

As they were running through the forest, Eevee became worried again as he noticed Red growing more tired as their escape continued. Suddenly, they stopped moving. Eevee turned his head and noticed that not only have they left the forest completely, they also reached a precipice.

Although Red tried to quickly judge whether they would survive the jump to the river running below them, the bird Pokemon already managed to catch up with them. The one leading them stopped and he looked at them with a satisfying expression. He gave out a shriek which seemingly was a command to three of his companions to begin an attack.

Eevee struggled to get out of Red's hold, finally regaining his will to fight. He used Sand Attack to blind the attackers, after which he put them out of commission with a Quick Attack. Couple of Spearow's were visibly unnerved after witnessing Eevee's show of strength but their leader brought them back to order with a few quick cries. Finally, Red decided that they couldn't stand there and deflect the attacks forever. He looked at Eevee and yelled "Let's go, buddy!"

The dog ran up to him. When the Spearows realized what these two were doing, it was already too late. They plunged into the river and were quickly pulled by the current. As soon as the opportunity arose, Red grabbed Eevee with one hand, and a branch from a tree standing next to the river, with his other hand. He managed to get his Pokemon and, right after that, himself on dry land.

"I think... I think we lost them" he said while panting heavily.

He was soon proved wrong by another angry shriek. He slowly managed to get up and look in the sky. A group of 10 most persistent Spearow's were still following them and now tried to cut off their escape route by flying lower and encircling them.

"Okay... Now we can make our stand."

Before Red could give Eevee a command, two of the Spearow's already approached him and started pecking furiously. Another one took the opportunity and attacked from the back. Red tried to shoo them away but instead he drew another Spearow's attention to himself. He struggled to protect himself as the birds kept on using Fury Attack.

"Vine Whip!" somebody yelled from an unknown direction.

Instantly, the Spearows attacking Red were knocked away by what seemed to be a long, green rope. Before he could tell what was happening, his Eevee was also released from under the Spearow's beaks in the same way.

Everybody started to look around in order to discover where that attack came from. Not far from them stood a brown-haired boy in violet pants and a black shirt with a high collar. He had a pleased look on his face. Beside him, like an obedient lapdog, waited a Bulbasaur whose vines were quickly retracting back into his body. The boy slowly advanced towards Red and Eevee, as the bird Pokemon kept a safe distance, unsure of what he was planning.

"What the hell were you doing, getting into a fight with so many Spearow's at once?" he asked Red.

"Wha-? I mean... I didn't do it on purpose. It just kind of happened."

The boy looked at him for a while with a face that clearly showed that he was waiting for something till he finally said "How about a "thank you?" Or something? Anything."

"Oh, I'm sorry... I..."

"Guess that'll do for now."

Even though he was his savior, something about his attitude ticked Red off.

"Anyway..." the boy looked at flock of Spearow which managed to reform itself "...although I'm good, I don't think our power is gonna be enough here, especially with birds taking less damage from Grass attacks. Can you guys use Helping Hand?"

Red looked at him with a befuddled expression for a short while, finally saying "You mean that "you could use a helping hand"?"

"What?"

"What?"

"No! Are you dumb or something? The move! I mean the move "Helping Hand"! What kind of incompetent nincompoop are you?!"

"Hey! That's not very nice!" Red stopped "Even if I have no idea what nincompoop means."

"Just..." the boy began, but he was interrupted by an attempted attack from one of the Spearows, which flew right in front of his face "Just tell your Eevee to use Helping Hand!"

"Okay, okay. I'm on it. Eevee!"

The dog looked up at him with readiness painted on his face.

"Use Helping Hand!"

Even though they never heard of this move and did not practice it, what with Red being the only trainer among his friends and the move being useful only in double battles, Eevee managed to successfully execute it. He gathered up energy which made his body glow, then he put his paw on Bulbasaur which transferred the glow over to his body. Powered up in this way, Bulbasaur was ready to receive his command.

"Vine Whip isn't gonna be enough. Time to test that move we've been working on. Leaf Storm!"

Bulbasaur roared at the opponents as the bulb on his back started shooting out a seemingly unending barrage of razor-sharp leaves which formed into a whirlwind, at least 4 meters tall. Then, that miniature tornado seemingly gained a mind of its own as it flew in the direction of the birds. When the first ones started getting hit by the attack, the ones in the back realized the danger of the situation and tried to run away. Their efforts proved to be useless as every one of them got sucked into the whirlwind and battered inside it.

After a while, the wind stopped and the group of birds fell unconscious on the ground.

"Wow. Your plan worked out perfectly." Red commended the other trainer.

To his surprise, the boy reached into his bag and left a couple of Oran Berries near the passed out Spearows.

"I don't want to catch them so it would be unfair if we just left them here injured. They could become an easy prey for other Pokemon. So let's hope that they wake up soon enough and regain their strength with these berries."

With each second, Red's opinion of this mysterious trainer changed. At this point, he still wasn't sure what to make of his actions.

"Anyway, we should move from here."

Red followed the boy to the main road, with their Pokemon walking dutifully beside them.

"You seem really knowledgeable about this area." Red blurted out.

"Oh. It's because I live here. Not "here" here, but in Pallet Town... Which I guess also isn't true anymore as today is the first day of my journey."

"Oh? You're also on a journey? I started out myself a couple days ago... By the way, I'm Red."

"Like the color? Huh. My name's Green."

"That's... That's a weird coincidence."

"I mean... Is it? I guess... Anyway, I really should be on my way. By the way, Pallet Town is in that direction" he said as he pointed to the south.

"Thanks. Since we are both travelling trainers, maybe we'll meet on our journeys again."

"Sure. That's a possibility... Wait... Why would you be going to Pallet Town if you're a trainer?"

"Oh. There's supposed to be this big-brained guy, called Professor Oak who lives there and my dad arranged for me to get a Pokemon from him."

"I see. Yeah. My Bulbasaur is also from that "big-brained guy"... Good luck."

"What do you mean by that?"

"Don't worry." Green replied, already walking away towards Viridian City.

"You know, Eevee? Him saying that in such a suspicious way only makes me more worried".

. . .

After arriving in Pallet Town, Red quickly managed to find Professor Oak's laboratory. It stood out as it was built on a hill on the edge of the town, yet still avoided the trope of looking like a house from a horror movie. The boy climbed several steps, after which he stopped to catch a breath, since he was still tired out from his previous escapade. He rung the doorbell and after a while, a middle-aged man in a lab coat opened the door and greeted him with a big smile.

"You must be Red." he said "Unless you're some kind of peddler. In that case, I don't need any brushes."

"What? No, no. It's me. I'm Red."

"I'm just joking around. Come inside."

The professor closed the doors behind them as Red was preparing to take of his shoes.

"Oh. You don't need to. This place is somewhat dirty since I have various Pokemon living here."

Red quickly learned what the professor meant when a group of Rattata ran close to his feet and a Pidgey landed on his shoulder and began to sing happily.

"They're quite a handful, but not as much as the one you came here for."

Oak led the teenager to a shelf on which stood some kind of device which seemed to have three places in which a pokeball could be placed, but with only one of them occupied.

"Although I have a lot of Pokemon, these three were actually provided by the Pokemon League. They trusted my judgement to find suitable trainers for them. One of them, I gave to my grandson since they already bonded while living here together. The second one I gave to a girl who came here from as far as Sevii Islands. Me and my grandson tried to find somebody for this last guy, but so far all the trainers have failed to tame him. I was about to release him in the wild, when your father contacted me."

"Wait... Is your grandson called Green?"

"Oh, did you happen to meet him?"

"Yeah. He helped me out when I was in a tough spot."

"Hmm. That's nice to here. So, without further ado, here's your new Pokemon" Oak handed the pokeball to Red.

"That's it?"

"Pretty much. As I said, this is the last chance for this guy. Try to bond with him, but if it doesn't work out, just release him in the wild. I just want him to find some peace."

Red swallowed nervously "You can count on me, sir."

. . .

Red was walking on the road to Viridian City, holding up the pokeball with the mystery Pokemon as if he was intensely analyzing it, even though it was identical to then one in which Eevee was when he received him.

He found a small spot near the road, with two bunches and a small fountain with drinkable water, one of many such places scattered throughout the region as to provide a place for a short rest for travelling trainers. He instructed Eevee to stay back for a while, because he didn't want to scare away the Pokemon that was about to appear before them. He threw the pokeball, and a small orange lizard emerged from the ray of light.

He looked kind of disoriented so Red took the chance to use the Pokedex he got from Professor Oak to learn this Pokemon's name, as the Pokedex already had preexisting data an all the Pokemon currently and previously owned by Oak. Red learned the Pokemon's name and decided to call out to him "Hey, Charmander. How are you doing?"

The lizard responded by giving him a dirty look and turning away. He started walking towards the forest, so Red followed behind and tried to put his hand on the Pokemon's head to stop him, but when Charmander noticed him approaching, he jumped up and spun around to hit Red with his tail. The boy barely managed to dodge. He noticed that the front of his cap caught on fire so he quickly put it out in panic.

Charmander ignored Red and continued to walk away, as if dealing with the trainer wasn't worth his time. Red tried to come up with some way to convince the Pokemon to stay. During this brainstorming session, he glanced in the direction of Eevee who waited patiently as ordered. At that moment, a light bulb lit up in Red's head.

"Hey, you weakling!" he yelled.

Charmander heard him but continued to advance towards the forest.

"So that's it?! You're running away?! See that, Eevee?! It seems like that guy is just a coward!"

Charmander was bright enough to know that he was being insulted, although not enough to know that this was a subterfuge on Red's part. He turned around waiting to see what Red was planning to do after offending him.

"Eevee, you're up."

The dog ran in front of his trainer. Charmander realized that Eevee was to be his opponent, so he took the initiative by charging at him and furiously unleashing his Scratch. Eevee proved to be too fast, as he playfully jumped over Charmander and kicked him in the back of the head. Charmander took two steps to regain his balance, after which he turned around to attack again.

"Sand Attack!"

Before the lizard could do anything, his opponent kicked up the ground which blinded him for a short while, giving Eevee enough time to run to the side and execute his own attack after Red yelled "Tackle!"

Charmander became even more agitated. After quickly cleaning his eyes, the flame on his tail grew more intense as he got on all four and let out multiple balls of flame from his mouth.

"Quick Attack!"

Eevee sped through the avalanche of fiery bullets to deliver a headbutt to Charmander's belly. The pain caused the lizard to close his jaw and stop him from further attacks. Eevee jumped around happily, waiting for his opponent to counterattack. When Charmander finally got through his pain, he started slowly moving backwards, as to not alarm his foe. Eevee tilted his head with a confused look. When he was finally far enough in the grass, he used Ember again, but this time to create a protective wall of fire around himself.

"Oh no, you won't get rid of us this way. Eevee!"

The Pokemon looked at his trainer, noticed him pointing up and to the left, and when he realized what he meant, the dog used Quick Attack to get up the tree closest to Charmander. The lizard didn't have any time to react, as Eevee came down on him from above. They both rolled through the flames, but Charmander finally managed to push Eevee off himself. The dog was hurt by the fire but at least, the opponent was in the open again.

"I came to the conclusion that you didn't accept previous trainers because they were just trying to befriend you, not realizing what a prideful fighter you are, but now you run away? Maybe I was wrong after all." this time Red wasn't trying to anger, instead speaking of what he really felt.

It seemed that Red's guess was a bullseye, as Charmander took up a more aggressive stance and looked him in the eye.

"Now, that's more like it! Eevee, use Tail Whip!"

Eevee wagged his tail, which gave Charmander the chance to get a Scratch in.

"Once more! You have to endure!"

The same thing repeated. Charmander gave out a happy shout as he felt victory growing closer. Red proceeded to rain on his parade as he told his Pokemon "Alright. Time to finish it! Quick Attack Version B!"

Eevee used Quick Attack, but instead of running at the foe, he began circling around him, constantly gaining on speed.

"Mirror Room!"

Eevee moved so fast that to Charmander it seemed like he was encircled by a group of enemies. He began shooting more flaming balls at the enemy, but he only managed to hit the afterimages. Time after time, Eevee would jump out of the circle to hit the opponent, with the other versions of him still remaining him.

Charmander was getting battered relentlessly, and the circle created by the Eevee's was getting smaller, finally thrusting the lizard into air. Eevee stopped and jumped after Charmander to deliver a final blow. They both landed on the ground, but while Eevee was on his four feet, Charmander couldn't get off the ground. Red walked up to him and placed the pokeball which was his home in an arms reach of the lizard.

"You can't fight anymore. Not today. I can either heal you, and let you be free or you can join us and we will grow stronger together, making your abilities live up to that darn pride of yours. Well... How about it?"

Charmander sighed tiredly as he pressed the button and let the light suck him back into his pokeball. Red picked it up, and look at it for a while to make sure that they really managed to reach an agreement, after which he looked at Eevee and showed him a big smile. Eevee followed suit.

* * *

So, that's it. If you enjoyed the chapter, leave a review. Leave a review if you didn't enjoy it. As I mentioned in the previous chapter, I have the story mostly figured out so you're probably not gonna change my mind but any criticism is good. Writing in english is kinda different than in my language. Instead of doing this "dialogue" we do it like that over here - dialogue - . That's about the only difference I can think of right now. And now for the preview of the next chapter. When/if it is eventually released, it's probably gonna be titled "Prepare for Trouble". So long.


	3. 3: Prepare for Trouble

Hi. It's me again. I should really learn not to have any expectations for the lenght of these things. All the time, I'm like "this chapter is gonna be short", but then it isn't. Can't really say much more without spoiling anything, so I'll save anything important for the postscript.

Well, I can say a fun fact. Didn't... didn't really know it was called postscript in english until a couple minutes ago. Here we call it postscriptum. It's not really that different. I guess we just keep the original phrase while the english language changes it to make it easier to understand, but I would have made a fool of myself if I didn't check to make sure if it's different in english.

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 3: Prepare for Trouble.

"How did that song go again? "I'm on a road to Viridian City. I'll meet my friends along the way..." I can't really remember what comes after that. How about you Eevee? You must have heard it a couple times" Red turned to his companion, walking beside him.

"Vee. Veevee. Eeeevee."

"No, that's not it. Oh, well. It doesn't matter anymore cause it seems like we're not on the road anymore." Red declared as he noticed the sign declaring that Viridian City was only 500 meters away.

. . .

His first stop in the city was the Pokemon Center. Although he was carrying various healing items with him, there was no reason as to why he would avoid the advantages provided by free healthcare.

Soon after he and his Pokemon were rested, he decided to pay a visit to his parents. He used the key to open the front door but as he went inside, he came to realize that it's still pretty early in the day so both of his parents were still at work. He thought about going to his dad's grocery shop since it wasn't far away but he changed his mind, deciding that he's gonna spend the night, so they are gonna meet later anyway.

"Well, since I want you to meet them later, you should probably get accustomed to the place" he said to Charmander as he was releasing him from the pokeball.

Since Eevee was always outside of his ball, as soon as they got to the house he laid down on his favorite spot on the couch, but when Charmander was released, he was eager to play, so he grabbed the dog by his leg and dragged him down. Red took out one of Eevee's chew toys and the Pokemon began a playful romp.

Red went to the kitchen, opened the fridge and looked around for a second before he grabbed a carton of milk and poured himself a glass. He sat on a chair and watched the playing Pokemon for a while. After finishing the glass of milk, he got kinda bored and went to the salon to try to watch some television, but that didn't prove helpful. He turned around while laying on the couch which made him fall to the floor. The Pokemon stopped playing for a short while in concern, but after he started to get up, they continued their fun. As a last resort, Red turned on his father's computer and went on the internet.

"Maybe I should try meeting with my friends?" he thought as he was skimming through a site with funny videos, but he quickly decided against it.

For some reason, he thought that it would look dumb if he met them again so soon after starting his journey. Thinking about that, he remembered an important part of being a Pokemon trainer which he still hasn't experienced. He didn't yet have a Gym battle.

"I wonder where the closest Gym is."

He used a search engine to quickly reach his answer.

"Oh? We have one of them in the city? I guess I never cared to look for it before I was a trainer, and after that, I focused mainly on training with Eevee. Anyway, I should go check it out."

He torn out a page from his father's notebook and wrote down the address for the Pokemon Gym, after which he whistled to his Pokemon to get their attention.

"Hey, guys. Looks like there's a Gym in this city, so we're gonna go to check it out. Are you ready?"

Eevee barked happily in response, but Charmander had a puzzled look on his face.

"Hmm... I guess you never heard of Gyms... It's like... we get to fight strong trainers and their Pokemon and if we win we'll get a prize."

After that explanation, Charmander also responded happily. Red returned him to his pokeball.

. . .

Looking around, then back to the piece of paper, then around again, Red was searching for the Gym. The place certainly seemed harder to find than he would have expected. He even asked some people for the way, but none were too sure where the Gym was, even if they knew it existed.

Finally, Red decided to take a short rest on a bench in a back alley he was walking through. He looked at the address again, certain that that either the Gym didn't exist anymore or that someone didn't want it to be found. When he put the paper down, he saw in front of himself a suspicious building with small windows, automatic doors and a yellow roof. As Red came closer to the building, he noticed traces of what seemed to be the words "Viridian City Pokemon Gym" next to the door. It seemed as if they were erased by the rain and no one bothered to provide a new paint job. The whole building looked kinda dirty and weed was sprouting from the ground around it.

"What's going on here?" Red pondered, while examining the building.

The automatic doors didn't seem to work, which added to the feeling that the building was abandoned.

"Hey! What are you doing here?!" somebody yelled from the right.

Red looked in that direction to notice a thin man in black clothes, with a red "R" on his shirt, walking from behind the building. He had a cigarette in his mouth, but as it was almost burned out, he threw it on the ground and stomped on it. When he got closer to Red, he sized the boy up, as if to examine if he was a threat.

"Get the hell out of here." he spoke again after a few seconds.

Red, being very confused, looked around almost like he was hoping that something would clear up the situation but there was nothing there.

"What is going on here?" he asked the man.

In turn, the adult also became visibly dumbfounded, probably because he expected his word to instantly get rid of the teenager.

"What do you mean "What is going on here"? Just scram, you moron."

"I mean... I would gladly do that, but the thing is, I have some business at this Gym." he explained while pointing with his thumb to the right.

"This Gym?"

Red began to feel like he was on a prank show with a hidden camera somewhere, but decided to continue talking in a calm and collected way "Yes. This exact Gym. There aren't any other Gym's around as far as I'm aware."

A vein popped up to the surface of the man's forehead, showing his growing irritation.

"Can't you see the place is closed? Whatever your business here was, you can't do anything with the place closed. So just get the hell out of here before I kick your ass and never show up here again. Capeesh?"

"No!"

"What the hell?!"

"I'm a Pokemon trainer. Part of that is collecting badges. I can't give up on doing that before I even got my first one."

"That's not my problem! The place is closed and I was told to scare away any losers trying to get inside!"

"Huh? Who told you to do that? Also... while we're talking about that, what's with the ridiculous outfit?"

"Ridiculous?! I see that somebody hasn't been watching the news as of late. I'm a member of Team Rocket! We're the biggest gang in Kanto and soon, on Earth."

Red was completely lost about what to think about everything, but he decided to take things easy and start by returning home and learning more about whatever happened to this Gym and if Team Rocket was actually a thing. He started walking away but a yell from the man stopped him.

"I don't like that attitude of yours. I don't wanna have you blabbing about what you saw here to other people so I'm gonna have to kick some sense into you with the help of my little friend. Go, Ekans!"

He threw a pokeball, from which emerged a purple snake.

"Was... Was that like a penis joke?"

"What?! No! Gah! I'm not wasting anymore time talking to you! Ekans, use Poison Sting!"

The snake opened its mouth and a rain of purple needles flew in Red's direction, with the boy managing to dodge them in the last second.

"That's how you want to play?"

Red's Eevee, who was standing back this whole time, not sure about what the humans were talking about, became angry after seeing his trainer attacked and was ready to fight back, but Red waved his hand to stop him.

"Not this time, buddy. I promised Charmander a Gym battle and since we can't have that, this will have to do. Go, Charmander!"

The lizard jumped out of his pokeball, full of energy. Red didn't have time to give him an order, because as soon as he saw Ekans, he was running at him full speed to deliver a Scratch. The snake Pokemon used his body like a spring to jump out of the way, not realizing that this way he exposed himself to something worse.

"Use Ember!"

Balls of flame flew towards the snake, who didn't have any way to avoid them. While he landed on the ground, he was already in severe pain, but still listened while his owner gave him the next order.

"Wrap!"

Ekans ensnared Charmander with his body and began to choke him.

"Oh no, you don't! Charmander, bite him to escape!"

The lizard put his sharp teeth into the snake's tail, freeing himself from his grasp. Ekans tried to run away, but Charmander kept his fangs sunk in his opponent's tail.

"Let's take a page out of Green's book. Spin around!"

Charmander began to turn quickly, making both himself and his foe dizzy, but when he finally let go of Ekans, not able to keep him because of centrifugal force, the snake was thrown into the side of the building. He wasn't even able to get up before Red gave Charmander another command, and the lizard sent the final Ember barrage, causing the snake to faint.

"What?!" the Team Rocket member yelled in surprise.

He proceeded to recall his Pokemon and gave Red an angry look. The teenager just smiled in response, having confidence in himself and Charmander after attaining this quick victory.

"You want to go another round?" he asked with a smug face.

The adult looked like he was about to say something, but was clearly too embarrassed by his lose. Red realized that the man didn't have other Pokemon, and that's why he wasn't keen on speaking out, on the account that Red could have chosen to repay him for that Poison Sting earlier. So instead, the Team Rocket member just ran away using one of the alleyways. Red slowly walked towards that direction with his hands holding up his head from the back. He was wondering if the man would return but seeing how quick he escaped, the boy dismissed that possibility.

"Great job, Charmander" he said to the Pokemon as he patted him on the head.

Jealous Eevee jumped into Red's arms, so for a couple seconds he hugged both of them.

. . .

The sun was already setting on Viridian City as Red's parents met on the way back to their house.

When they saw that the lights were on, the mother got kind of wary, but the father came to a quick conclusion that Red must have returned. His prediction came true when he opened the door, and instantly they could see Red's shoes and jacket in the front hall, and also smell the delicious food being prepared by their son. Red heard them entering so he peeked out of the kitchen, wearing an apron and a headscarf. He smiled happily and they responded in kind. While they were getting changed into their home clothes, he finished cooking and invited them to the dining room.

Soon, he came in, carrying two plates of food in his hands, one with spaghetti, the other with cheese and spinach cake. Eevee walked into the room graciously carrying a plate with three glasses of juice on his head. Charmander jumped onto one of the chairs and took the plate to put it on the table. After that, Red took out a candelabra, and the lizard Pokemon lit the candles using his Ember. Red took some of both the dishes and put them into the Pokemon's bowls before beginning the dinner with his parents, all the while remembering to warn Eevee about eating too quickly, as he was known to sometimes choke on his food.

The boy spent a pleasant evening with his parents, telling them about meeting Green, Professor Oak and befriending Charmander. The next day came, and he was ready to continue his journey. After checking the internet again, he learned that the second closest Gym should be located in Pewter City. Although there wasn't any indication that this one also wouldn't be closed, Red remained hopeful.

* * *

So that's it. So, as I said previously, I didn't know that this chapter would be this long and it very well could not have been. In the planning stages it was just Red arriving in the city, going to the Gym, fighting the Team Rocket member and leaving the city. But when I got to writing, before I could realize it, I was writing about a bunch of useless stuff. And that's okay. If it was just what I planned, it would feel like if I was just checking marks on a piece of paper, throwing out anything that doesn't advance the plot.

But I feel like those moments describing Red's down time, thoughts and the relations with his parents are good to make the story seem more normal paced. Especially, since Red won't be visting Viridian City for a long time.

Another thing when it comes to changes, is the changes I made to the story from the game. This isn't meant as strictly a retelling of the game. Already, the previous chapters had many differences, but I feel that this one is the most impacted by it. In the game, you don't fight anybody in Viridian City, you don't learn about Team Rocket until Mount Moon and the abandoned Gym situation is like "whatever". I struggle, but I try to make things make sense in a real world kind of way. Like, in the games, didn't Lance and the Elite Four wonder why the hell they didn't get any challengers for a while, since nobody could get the necessary eight badge? Or, how was Giovanni even appointed a Gym leader. Maybe this story will answer some of these questions based on what I think, or maybe not.

Anyway, a slight sneek peek into the next chapter: Viridian Forest, bugs, new character and the chapter is probably gonna be called Bluebell. I keep not being sure what I'm gonna name the chapters because I feel like some of the futures one could be better if they were fused into one or changed in a major way. That's it. Till the next time. Or not.


	4. 4: Bluebell

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 4: Bluebell.

Red has been travelling through Viridian Forest for almost a week, and he was really getting fed up with the variety, or lack there of, this place had to offer. Although he was happy for any kind of Pokemon battle he could take part in, after fighting bug catchers every day, all he hoped for was someone who didn't use bug type Pokemon.

It was getting dark and the exit to the forest still didn't seem any closer, so the boy decided to set up a camp. That meant, having his Pokemon help with gathering sticks and stones for creating a campfire, while he used the biggest leaves he could find to cover a net hung up between a couple trees, creating a roof for the night.

After everything was done, Charmander lit the sticks, Red took out a couple berries he gathered during the day and started to slowly roast them over the fire. He left them propped up on the sharpened sticks he stabbed them on, to take a bottle of water and pour it into a bowl for his Pokemon. He was getting worried because they didn't see any stream for quite some time and it also hasn't been raining, so their water supply was dwindling.

After finishing their meal, Red put a blanket and a pillow on a layer of leaves which he gathered under his net roof. He put out the, trying to use as little of the water as possible. After that, he took a second blanket, returned Charmander to his ball and covered himself and Eevee before going to sleep.

. . .

Loud barking and something hitting his chest over and over wasn't the best way for Red to wake up. When he opened his eyes, he saw that the one behind this commotion was none other than Eevee.

"What's going on, buddy?" Red asked after the dog jumped off from him, to give him a chance to get up.

He slowly rubbed his eyes and yawned, still trying to wake up. When he went out from under his impromptu roof, he noticed the reason for why the Pokemon interrupted his rest. Right in front of him, between the resting place and the extinguished campfire, there was a strange yellow flower that was not there when they went to sleep. Eevee must have noticed its strong smell and became alarmed.

"Huh. How did this thing grow so fast? Especially without any sunlight" the boy pondered.

He tried touching it gently with a stick but nothing happened. He walked out a little further to see if maybe somebody planted it there on purpose but he didn't notice anything. Finally, a sudden realization hit him. There was a possibility that the flower was a Pokemon that for some reason walked over there and planted itself in the ground.

Since it's been already a couple minutes since he woke up, Red didn't feel like going back to sleep, so he decided to check if he was right by using his Pokedex. He went back towards the backpack which also was under the net roof. Eevee, who was still observing the mysterious plant, noticed that the teenager stopped in his tracks. When he looked over at what Red was staring at, he saw that the blanket under which they previously slept, had a suspicious bulge, as if somebody was still sleeping there.

"Curiouser and curiouser." Red commented while rubbing his chin with an inquisitive look on his face.

"Welp, here goes nothing." he exclaimed while quickly pulling the blanket off from whatever was under it.

"Wha... What?!"

To Red's and Eevee's surprise, the one who was hiding under the blanket was a brown-haired girl, around Red's age, and wearing a set of pink plaid pajamas. Neither losing her cover nor Red's yell caused her to wake up.

"What is going on here? First, that weird plant. Now this... I'm not sure what to make of this, buddy." the boy commented, turning to his Pokemon.

Eevee turned his head an gave out a quick sound, indicating that he wanted to know what they were supposed to do in that situation.

"Well... I can't do anything, can I? Let's just wait until this girl wakes up and then we'll get our answers."

. . .

The nose of the girl moved ever so slightly, as she smelled the aroma of slowly roasting berries. She licked her lips as a reflex, before opening her eyes. She got up to a sitting position and stretched out her arms. With a still dazed look on her face she turned her head to the left and then to the right. She noticed that wherever she was, clearly wasn't her tent, but wasn't really worried since she got a good sleep. She quickly stood up and began doing more stretching while making quiet sounds which were supposed to get her pumped up during the exercise.

Finally, after about 2 minutes, she turned around to see where that enticing smell came from. Red, surprised to see that, almost choked on the berry he was hitting, because he didn't want the girl to know he was staring at her exercise. She went up to him and sat on a log he prepared beforehand, while he himself was sitting on a flat rock, covered with leaves as to avoid any strain to his buttocks.

The girl looked at the food with glee in her eyes and then at Red with a hopeful expression of a puppy who wanted to be told that he was a good dog. The boy just nodded his head, and the girl took one of the sticks with an almost done berry and proceeded to turn it around as to roast it more evenly.

Finally, she began eating it. Red caught himself staring again, but he couldn't help being entranced by the pure joy which emanated from her face as she was gently chewing each bite of the berry. He put one of his hand on his heart, as if that was supposed to stop the increased heartbeat. Even though many of his friends were girls, he never was interested in any of them, especially considering that couple years of gap where he was shunned by them. He felt that this was the most intimate moment he ever shared with a person of the opposite sex, although they weren't really doing anything.

He calmed down after the girl finished eating and stood up again. She looked around, as if searching for something. When she spotted whatever it was, she started walking away without a word.

"Wait!" Red yelled, finally in full control of his feelings and with a clear mind.

The girl turned around with a confused look on her face. Then a light bulb seemed to have lit up over her head as she hit the palm of one of her hands with the other one closed in a fist.

"Thank you for the meal." she said while bowing cordially.

"That's... That's not really what I meant" Red sighed as he was trying to gather his thoughts "Okay... Okay, okay. First of, what is your name? Seco..."

"Blue." the girl interrupted before he could finish.

"Oh... Oh. Really? Like two weeks ago I me..."

"Really."

Red made a short sound of annoyance before speaking again "Let me finish what I want to say before you answer, okay?"

To his surprise, the girl remained completely silent for around 20 seconds.

"Are... Are you okay?"

"Oh. I just wasn't sure if you were done talking." she answered with a clearly honest look in her eyes.

"That's... fair. Anyway, my name is Red. I just wanted to say that it's weird that we are both named after colors since I met a guy named Green some time ago."

"Is it weird? Maybe we just all have parents with weak imagination."

"Yes." Red answered dumbfounded "That's certainly a possibility. But, what's more important than that is why did you sneak into my camp at 4 o'clock?"

"Oh. That wasn't on purpose. You see, I have my own camp over there." she said while pointing somewhere far away.

Red squinted his eyes to notice what could be a blue tent, about 200 meters away.

"Man, you have good eyesight. But, since your camp is over there, what are you doing here?"

The girl went into deep thought "I remember setting up the camp, eating some of my cookies, drinking juice and going to sleep... Then I woke up in the middle of the night and noticed that Bell was missing so I started to look around for him. When I finally found him, I was too tired to go back, and that's when I noticed that he was right in front of some place with blankets and a pillow so I went to sleep. That's about all I can remember."

"I... I think that's all you need to remember. By "Bell" you mean that thing?" Red asked while pointing at the mysterious flower he found during the night.

"Oh! I was so hungry that I forgot completely that he was there. Hey, Beeell!"

The flower moved, revealing that the yellow part was its head, as its small eyes opened. It slowly managed to pull its roots up from the ground, as Red was passing it by to finally get to his Pokedex.

"Huh. A Bellsprout. Grass... no surprise there. Also poison... Hmm. Well... After you get changed..." Red turned to the girl with a small blush on his face "...you can come back to eat some more if you want."

"Oh. Thanks for the offer. I'll be glad to take you up on that. Bell must also be hungry."

"Vee!"

The trainers turned their heads to the campfire to notice Eevee using its paw to hit a Weedle which was trying to get away with one of Red's berries. But the bug wasn't alone. A group of four other Weedle's took the chance provided by their friend to steal the other berries.

"Hey! Get back here!" Red yelled while running after the thieves.

When the bugs noticed that they couldn't outrun him, they began giving out a cry for help. The boy heard a buzzing sound getting closer and closer, and finally an angry face of a Beedrill appeared right in front of him. He managed to dodge its drill and jump back to a safe distance.

"If that's how you want to play... Eevee, it's time to teach these bozos a lesson."

"Wait." Blue interrupted before the dog could answer his trainers call.

She and Bellsprout walked by Red, stopping a short distance from Beedrill.

"I wanna pay you back for not getting angry at me for sleeping in your camp and for giving me food. At the same time... please never use the word "bozos" again." she said, giving Red a glare during those last words.

"O... Okay. Yeah. The floor... or I guess, the ground is yours."

The leader of the bug Pokemon wasn't too patient. He seemed confused with the exchange between the trainers for a short while but he quickly went on the offensive again. He tried to hit Blue with a Twineedle, but Bell jumped in front and knocked the attack to the side, causing the bug to miss.

Beedrill shifted his attention to the Grass Pokemon. He tried to use Twineedle again, but Bellsprout jumped out of the way and after receiving a command from Blue, used Vine Whip to catch one of Beedrill's arms and slam him into a tree. This caused the bug to go into a frenzy. He tried to hit his foe with a Fury Attack but due to his slim and nimble body, Bellsprout managed to dodge every attack while walking backwards. When the last hit was about to land, the plant Pokemon waited a little longer before jumping out of the way. Beedrill tried to follow him, only to notice that his drill was stuck in the tree.

"Hey. That's actually a good tactic." Red commented.

"I see that you underestimated me." Blue responded while jokingly making a sulking face.

"Ah. Sorry." the boy blushed out of embarrassment.

"I'm just joking. It's time to end this anyway. Bell, use Sleep Powder."

A cloud of white spores created from the leaves of the flower Pokemon fell on Beedrill's face, putting him to sleep. Bellsprout took the opportunity and proceeded to use Vine Whip on his opponent. This caused the bug to finally get released from the tree, but also to be knocked out for real. The group of Weedle's looked with worry at their leader, but they still seemed eager to fight back. Bell looked back to his trainer, and after receiving a nod of approval, he used Growth to make himself look much larger. This scared the Bug Pokemon for good. After they ran away, Blue congratulated Bell on his victory.

"Thanks for helping me out." said Red.

"Well, now we're even."

"I wanted to ask you... where are you travelling to?"

"Oh. I'm planning to collect Gym badges so I'm on my way to Pewter City."

"Well, you'll be happy to know that it's also my destination."

"Why would I be happy to know that?"

"Aah... Well, you seemed to like the berries I made so you could eat more of them if we travelled together."

Blue jumped away while doing something akin to a martial arts fighting stance, with Bell trying to copy her.

"My mom warned me about going along with strangers. How do I know that you're not gonna do something nasty to me?"

Red blushed again, and yelled out with a cracking voice "I already had the opportunity to! I didn't do anything, did I?!"

"Hmm. Yeah. I guess I can trust you." Blue calmed down "Oookay. I'm gonna get changed in my tent and will be back in a couple minutes."

"Fine. Take your time."

"On the other hand, I'm a little disappointed." Blue whispered, again making that sulking face, as she walked away towards her camp.

Red scratched himself on the head, thinking about what he just got himself into, when he heard Eevee's panicked barking. The only berry still on a stick was beginning to burn up, so the boy frantically tried to save it from the fire.

* * *

I decided to not do the talking before the chapter part. Since I can't comment on the chapter without spoling it, there sometimes just isn't a lot to say, so it's better if I just write here.

So, Red got himself a travelling companion. I didn't really expect Blue to turn out in this way. I had some plans for her, but her character was more bland, making me rethink of why would she even travel with Red. If she was just there to cheer him on like sometimes is the case in these types of stories it would be no good. So I made her into this quirky girl who goes from 0 to a 100 as soon as she gets something to eat. I've been watching some Lucky Star and K-on clips on youtube so I feel like they were a sort of inspiration for her character.

Also, the chapter wasn't planned out in such a way. The original idea seemed too similar to the second chapter so I change everything. The only thing I was sure of, is that I wanted the Bellsprout and Beedrill fight in there. All the comedic and "romantic", if you can call it that, stuff just kinda happened. I don't really have a name for the next chapter. I have an idea, but I think it's too lame so I'm not even gonna mention it. But as a preview, I can say that the heroes are already gonna be in Pewter City at the beginning of the next chapter.


	5. 5: Riffraff Roof

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 5: Riffraff Roof.

"Get back here!" Red's yell could be heard by all the people on the sidewalk as he run past them in a hurry, accidentally bumping into some.

He didn't have time to apologize since he and Eevee were hot on a trail of a notorious thief, who just so happened to be a yellow electric rodent. They stopped at an intersection as the boy seemed to have lost the one they were following from his sight. Eevee barked while pointing his head across the street. Red noticed the escaping Pokemon running into an alley. He almost crossed the street without looking, but Eevee bit one of his pant legs to stop him from running into an oncoming car.

After that, they both quickly moved to where they last saw the thief. To their surprise, he wasn't in the alley, and since it lead to a dead-end, there wasn't really nowhere for him to go. Nowhere but up.

Red noticed a fire escape, so he ran up a wall for half a second before jumping off and grabbing on to the ladder, making it fall to the ground. He wanted to help Eevee up, but the Pokemon realized what tactic was used by their target, so he used a nearby dumpster like a springboard and landed on the lowest level of the stairs. Soon, he and Red were on the rooftop. The thief seemed to think that he managed to lose them so he was sitting there, trying to figure out what the thing he stole was exactly. Realizing that he was about to bite his Pokedex, Red yelled in shock "Don't do that!"

The rodent turned around, startled by the fact that his victims managed to reach him. Not knowing what to do, he left the Pokedex on the ground and started running away again. Red picked up the device but then turned his head in the direction of the yellow Pokemon.

"I got my Pokedex, but I still want to catch that Pikachu. He's smart and fast. Let's go, buddy!" he spoke to his Eevee.

The mouse Pokemon used his speed to jump from one roof to another. The boy and the dog followed suit, although the former was unsure of his jumping abilities and felt kind of unstable after landing. Pikachu didn't want to give up, and continued to traverse the city at the height of around 30 meters. Finally, he saw a big gap leading to an isolated building on the edge of the city so he used Quick Attack to jump over there, sure that he wouldn't be able to do it otherwise.

Red, getting closer to the end of the building he was on, was starting to become afraid of the jump. He used his quick wits and called out Charmander. While holding him in his hands, he gave him an order "Ember!"

The continuous onslaught of fiery balls propelled them through air, still barely allowing them to make it to the other side. Red threw Charmander onto the roof, while he used his hands to grab onto the parapet.

Eevee used the same method as Pikachu to get across and then both of Red's Pokemon tried to help him get up by pulling on his hands, but he assured them that he could do it himself.

When they were finally all there, the teenager was out of breath, but at least he knew he had time to catch it back as there wasn't anywhere the thieving Pokemon could escape to anymore. The Pikachu grabbed on to the ledge of the building and looked down as if trying to gauge if he could survive a fall. After realizing that there was nothing else he could do, he gathered up his courage, turned around and got on all fours while trying to make an angry face at Red, which was kind of hard because the boy, as most people probably would, found the Pokemon to be extremely cute. The case was different for Charmander. He didn't care about what kind of opponent he would face as long as he got a chance to fight.

"Ember!" Red ordered.

The fire Pokemon released his attack, but missed the target as Pikachu dodged it and proceeded to run towards the foe by using Quick Attack. The impact was so hard that the lizard had to dig his claws into the roof of the building to stop himself from falling off. He left about a meter of scratch marks before he stopped the momentum.

Suddenly, Pikachu ran up to Charmander before he could counterattack, but instead of hitting him with an attack, he smiled from cheek to cheek and an aura of comfort showered the fire Pokemon. Then, Pikachu quickly returned to his previous expression as he jumped in the air and spun around to deliver a blow with his tail, which for a second seemed to turn into a hard metal. The attack sent Charmander's head into the roof, leaving a small indentation in the building. When he got up, he was so angry that it seemed like he was about to go out of control.

"Wait!" Red's yell stopped him in his tracks.

The trainer frantically looked over the data provided by the Pokedex, realizing that Pikachu used a combination of moves called Play Nice and Iron Tail.

"You can't allow him to do that thing again. It lowers your strength."

Charmander listened to Red patiently, but at the same time he was looking at the mouse Pokemon who stood a couple meters away, grinning confidently. He was trying to provoke a reaction by pulling down an eyelid and sticking out his tongue, but Charmander held back his rage while waiting for a command from his trainer.

"Wait..."

Seeing as his opponent wasn't going to move, Pikachu used another Quick Attack.

"Wait..."

As the Pokemon was getting closer, Charmander was growing eager to go against his trainer's instructions and use Ember again.

"Now, Smokescreen!"

When Pikachu was about to hit Charmander, the lizard let out a thick, dark cloud of smoke from his mouth. Pikachu tried to stop as the darkness was enveloping him, only to get tripped up by Charmander's tail.

When the electric Pokemon got up, he couldn't see anything besides the smoke. His foe managed to get outside of the range of his own move and looked readily at his trainer, who nodded, signifying that Charmander had free reign to deal with Pikachu in whatever way he desired, as his way to victory was already paved. He went back into the fray. He scratched Pikachu on his back and disappeared again into the cloud.

When the mouse turned around to face his foe, another attack came from the opposite direction. Charmander kept repeating this pattern, which caused Pikachu to lose his cool and start to get angry. Finally he snapped and started continuously using Thunder Shock while spinning, being sure that sooner or later he would catch up with his opponent. He didn't realize that Charmander left the cloud again until he heard his growling.

The lizard pointed at the sky while running towards his trainer. Red understood what he meant and prepared both his hands. When the lizard reached him, the trainer used his arms like a catapult and propelled the Pokemon into air. He managed to get a couple meters into the air, right over the center of the cloud which has already started dissipating.

When Pikachu noticed a shadow on himself, he looked up, only to be hit by Charmander's Ember. The attack caused him to stop using Thunder Shock, as he hit the roof in pain. The lizard didn't let up, and started to spin as he plummeted towards his foe, to finally deliver a powerful attack with his tail into Pikachu's back.

After lifting himself off his opponent, Charmander picked him up by his tail and threw him over his shoulder. While the electric Pokemon was flying through the air, he was hit by another Ember. He tried to get up as quickly as he could as to avoid leaving himself an easy prey to another attack, but Charmander reached him faster than he expected, and unleashed a couple Scratches before using another Ember. The lizard was ready to keep fighting until he heard his trainer.

"That's enough."

Red came over to Pikachu, and Charmander, realizing that the battle was over and he was about to hit somebody who was helpless, walked backwards with an ashamed expression. The trainer patted him on the head reassuringly.

"You did a good job. Now, about you..." he turned to the electric Pokemon "...I don't want you to think I'm a heartless guy so take this."

He gave him an Oran Berry. Pikachu had a little trouble eating it, but he managed to regain some of his strength. At least enough to sit up and listen to what the boy had to say to him.

"I heard from the people in this city that this wasn't the first time you stole something. You seem to cause trouble to all the fruit and fish stands. I understand that you're doing this only because you don't have a home and it's hard to get food in another way if you're living in a city, but there are other ways. You have a talent that is being wasted while you use it for these kind of things. If you come with us, you can use your abilities in battle and I promise that you'll never have to be hungry. How about it?"

The mouse looked confused but then it closed its eyes, seemingly musing over Red's offer. Finally it opened them and pointed to the boy's pocket while giving out a couple shouts. The trainer reached in there and pulled out the Pokedex.

"Oh? You want to know how it works? I can show you that too. So how about it?" he said as he held up a pokeball in his other hand.

"Pika!" the Pokemon replied happily, after which he let himself be sucked into the device.

The boy stood up, as Eevee ran over from the other end of the roof. Red triumphally reached to the sky with the hand holding the pokeball, celebrating the addition of a new partner, as the other two joined him by jumping into air and giving out happy sounds.

"We should go to a Pokemon Center to heal you guys up. Also, I wonder what Blue has been up to during this time."

"Vee?"

"Huh?"

The Pokemon looked around.

"Oh yeah. How are we gonna get down from here?"

. . .

As Red walked into the Pokemon Center, he immediately heard Blue's voice calling him "Hey, Red!"

He noticed her sitting on a sofa in the corner of the room, holding a newspaper that she stopped reading to greet him. He put up his hand, showing that he wanted her to wait a while, as he walked towards the counter.

"Good afternoon." the nurse working there greeted him.

"Good afternoon. Please take care of my Pokemon." he said while putting the pokeballs with his three partners on the counter.

Even though Eevee didn't take part in the fight, he was still there during the whole chase so he must have exhausted at least some of his strength. Since healthcare was free and healing Pokemon didn't take a lot of time, Red saw no reason to not take advantage of that.

"Come back after a couple minutes." the nurse instructed him.

What she said was more of a suggestion than an order. After each Pokemon was healed, the pokeball holding it would be put aside and the trainer could return for his partners at any point during the day. In rare cases where somebody wouldn't show up to take back his Pokemon until the next day, the nurse had a responsibility to contact the trainer by phone. If she couldn't reach him for a week, she would have to call for services which take care of abandoned Pokemon by preparing them to either be given to new trainers or to be released into the wild, based on the Pokemon's will.

Red didn't have to worry about any of that, as he would return for his partners after a short while. He walked up to Blue and sat on an armchair which was perpendicular to the sofa she was on.

"How was your day?" she asked cordially.

"It was great. I got into a big chase and managed to catch a new Pokemon."

"What kind?"

"A Pikachu."

"Oh? They are so cute. You'll have to show it to me." the girls eyes lit up as she was saying that.

"What about you? What have you been up to?"

The girl stood up and rubbed her finger under her nose as a show of confidence.

"While you were out there playing around..." she began.

"Are you trying to start shi..."

"...I was busy kicking some serious ass." she continued, ignoring Red's comment.

"What do you mean?"

"Behold!" she shouted while holding a small grey pin right in front of his face.

"What is that? Wait... Is that one the badges?"

"You got that right. I went to the Gym and won it in a fight that will be remembered in history books as my first step to becoming the greatest trainer this world has ever known."

"I think you may be getting a little ahead of yourself."

"I think you are a little jealous." the girl teased him.

Red blushed a little while showing frustration on his face.

"I'm not! As soon as my Pokemon are healed, I'm gonna go there and get my own badge! You can come and see how a real trainer does it!"

"With pleasure. I just want to warn you that your Pokemon may have a little trouble, considering that the leader of this Gym uses rock type Pokemon."

"Rock type, huh? So you had advantage with Bellsprout."

"Also with my other Pokemon."

"Your other Pokemon? I didn't know you had one."

"You''ll get to see it once the need for me to use it again arrives. Bell is already plenty strong, but this one is on a whole other level."

While wondering what Blue's other Pokemon could have been, Red glanced at the newspaper laying on the table, which the girl has been previously reading.

"Anything interesting in the news?"

"Same old, same old. Team Rocket are causing trouble in various places. They are getting rid of the other gangs, while growing stronger themselves. The police is rather helpless. They don't even know what the Rocket's goal is."

"Team Rocket... I almost forgot about them."

"What is it? Did you meet them before?"

"Yeah. And ever since, I wanted to meet a Gym leader, to ask him some things."

"Your Pokemon are healed!" the nurse yelled from the other end of the room.

Since the place was almost empty her voice didn't really disturb anyone. Red got up and started walking toward the counter.

"Time to get my badge and my answers."

* * *

Hello. It's me again. As always providing some (possibly) interesting facts about this chapter. The major thing is that I finally decided to split a chapter. Originally, Red catching Pikachu and fighting Brock was supposed to take place in one chapter but the first part of that came out longer than I expected. I'd like to keep these chapter relatively similar in lenght because I think it's better if I release shorter chapters but do it quicker. And it's not realy a matter of quantity over quality because you would get the same thing if I did it the other way, but you would just get more at the same time.

Another thing is, I learned that the word riffraff refers to a group of people, not one person. I probably got subconsciously confused by The Rocky Horror Picture Show. I decided to keep it in the title anyway, because it just sounds funny. I guess it kidna works? The riffraff was supposed to refer to Pikachu being a thief, but since Red understood why Pikachu was doing what he was doing it was like "Hey, I get it, I would probably do the same." So maybe "riffraff" means both Red and Pikachu.

Anyways, the next chapter, as you already know is gonna have the fight with Brock. If you thought this one had a stupid title, wait until you see the next one.


	6. 6: The Iron Tail of Pikachu

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 6: The Iron Tail of Pikachu.

Since she already knew the way to the Gym, Blue walked slightly in front, skipping happily while humming some melody unknown to Red. She glanced at him from time to time, to look at his focused expression, caused by him trying to come up with a tactic to use in the upcoming battle. When he finally seemed to reach a decision, he looked up and his eyes met with the girl's, as she quickly turned her gaze forward, while trying not to seem embarrassed by being caught.

"Say, Red..."

"Yeah?"

"Why did you become a Pokemon trainer?"

That question struck him a kind of odd so he answered unsure "I mean... to catch Pokemon and collect badges... That's mostly what trainers do, right?"

"That's not really what I meant. You know that if you collect badges you get a chance to participate in Pokemon League, right?"

"Yeah."

"Aside from the four best trainers getting prize money and becoming famous for their abilities, the Pokemon League is also a stage for people to say whatever they want. You have the possibility to reach the biggest audience you ever could and convince them to support you, since it's easier for people to get behind a person who they already see as capable."

Red wondered if he had anything he would want so many people to hear about "I guess I just haven't given it much though. I'm just going as far as my abilities and my Pokemon will allow me. Don't get me wrong. It would be cool to become the master, but there can only be one. Even the two of us... I mean, if we get into the League it's possible that we will have to face each other."

"I suppose..." Blue seemed to get lost in her thoughts

"Do you have anything?"

"What's that?"

"Do you have anything that you would want everyone to hear about?"

The girl stopped and spun around to point a finger at the boy.

"Have you ever heard of Sevii Archipelago?"

"Sevii..." Red tried to search for the name in his mind "...I feel like I did but I'm drawing a blank at the moment."

"No surprise there. Even though Sevii Islands are so close to Kanto, many people here haven't ever heard about them. I come from one of those islands and I feel that they would be more appreciated if just more people knew about them. We have great agriculture and many good fishmen but there are no established trade routes between Sevii and the mainland. I have family and friends there whose business would surely bloom if it was just easier to reach more clients. My hope is to win the Pokemon League and tell everybody what a great place it is."

"Wow!" Red yelled as he subconsciously grabbed both of Blue's hands "That's such a great dream!"

Since his face was getting a little too close to hers, without the boy himself realizing, she decided to comment on that politely "Red? Could you back off a little?"

When he noticed what he was doing, he let go of her and jumped back with a blush on his face. The girl felt reassured whenever she saw that he got embarrassed by these types of situations easier than herself.

"It's just..." Red spoke up again "...I don't really have a great dream. I worked hard towards becoming a Pokemon trainer but I'm still not sure if it was worth it. I just kinda want to enjoy myself and if I win, I win. If I lose, I lose."

"There's nothing wrong with that." the girl started chuckling "Actually, this type of attitude suits you much more."

"Hey! Are you making fun of me again?"

"No way~!" she said with an intentionally condescending tone "Come on! We're almost at the Gym!" she continued with a happy voice as she started running forward.

. . .

The Gym looked very similar to the one Red saw at Viridian City, although with a couple differences. It was located in an open area at the edge of the town, it's roof was grey instead of yellow, it was in an overall better state and the words next to the entrance read "Pewter City Pokemon Gym". There also wasn't anyone there to try to drive the trainers away.

The automatic doors opened and Blue allowed the boy to pass in front of her. Inside, he looked around with curiosity. It seemed like the Gym was separated into at least two rooms as the one they arrived in was rather small and contained only a receptionist desk and what seemed to be a waiting area. A middle aged man, in a blue suit and glasses, looked up from the computer he was using and stood up with a smile after seeing the trainers.

"Welcome to the Pewter City Pokemon Gym." he declared.

"Oh. Good afternoon." Red responded, while struggling with whether to bow during that.

"You're here again Miss Blue?" the man asked while adjusting his glasses as if to make sure that he didn't make a mistake in recognizing her.

"I'm just here to see this guy lose." she responded while pointing at Red with her thumb.

"Oy."

"I meant "win". Of course." Blue added quickly, hoping that she didn't cross a line in teasing Red.

"Oh. I see. The leader didn't have any appointments for a battle and no one came here since you left, so he should be free right now. I'll give him a call." after saying that, the receptionist clicked a button near the computer and spoke through some kind of intercom "There is a trainer here who wishes to fight you. Should I let him in?"

The teenagers were too far to hear the answer, but the man stood up after a couple seconds and pointed with his right hand to the doors leading to the next room. They understood what he meant, and started walking in that direction. The automatic doors opened, and after a couple meters of walking through a small corridor they reached a massive room which clearly was the place where Red was to fight for the badge.

About eighty percent of the floor was missing and replaced with ground and several boulders to create a fighting arena in the middle of the room. On opposite sides of the arena were two slightly elevated platforms. To the right and left of the opening through which the trainers came in, there were two sets of stairs, leading to a balcony which Red deduced to be an area for spectators.

"I'm gonna go up there." declared Blue.

Red nodded and himself decided to stand on the platform which was on this side of the room. Soon, a set of automatic doors opened in the corridor which was the other entrance to this place.

A young man with dark skin and very thin eyes, wearing only brown pants held up by a belt, entered the room. After arriving on the platform opposite of Red's, he seemed as he was about to say something, but after noticing Blue, he changed his attention to her for a short while. He waved slowly and she responded, but slightly more energetic. Then, he turned to Red.

"I'm Brock. The leader of the Pewter City Pokemon Gym! Sta..."

"I know." Red interrupted him.

"What?"

"I'm in the Pewter City Pokemon Gym. Unless I stumbled in here by mistake, you can safely assume that I'm here to challenge this Gym in a battle for a badge. And since the receptionist informed the leader that I'm here and the leader agreed to fight me, and we're both standing here, it would be weird if you were anyone besides the leader."

"Oh no. He started again." Blue said to herself, too quietly for any of the other two to hear her.

"I get where you come from..." Brock started "...but that was kind of rude."

"Not my intention. I just wanna get over all the useless chit-chat and get right to the fight."

"You seem to exude confidence! I like that! Still, it would be nice to at least know your name before we fight."

"I'm Red. Red from Viridian City."

"Why... Why would I care about where you're from?"

"Hmm... I'm not sure. I just watched that one cartoon when I was a kid and the main character always said where he was from, even when he was in another region and no one could have any idea where his hometown was. I just wanted to try it out. Now, when I'm introducing myself to somebody, I will know better."

"Oh-kaaay. How many badges have you collected so far?"

"None. Does that matter?"

"Yes. Each Gym leader has to use a certain number of Pokemon based on how many badges the challenger has in his possession. Since you have none, I will be using two of my Pokemon. Meanwhile, you can use however many Pokemon you want to."

"What?!" Red was seriously surprised.

"Uh... Are you okay?"

"That's not fair. I don't want to win because of an advantage."

"Well... It's assumed that the Gym leader's advantage is that they know the layout of their arenas."

"I don't care about that!" Red yelled with anger.

Blue whistled to show her surprise. Because of how petty Red could sometimes be, she never expected him to get so fired up over something in a serious manner.

"I will also use two Pokemon! Is there a problem?!"

Brock was astounded, but he responded with a faint smile. It was a long time since someone so passionate challenged him to a fight.

"No. No problem. Just one more thing."

"What is it?" Red was thrown out of his mood.

"You can't use your Pokemon to turn on the sprinklers."

Red looked up to see the devices which he didn't notice before, because of how high the ceiling was.

"Why would I... Did... Did someone seriously do that in the past?"

"Yes. And it was a pain to clean up and refill them. But this time it's seriously all I had to say. Are you ready?"

"Sure am!"

"Let's begin! I choose Geodude!"

Brock threw his pokeball and a Pokemon which looked like boulder with arms and a face, appeared on the area.

"Let's go, Eevee!"

Red released the Pokemon who has been in his pokeball ever since being healed at the Pokemon Center. The dog went up to his trainer and stood up on his hind legs while propping himself on the boy's leg. Red recognized that as the pose he would do whenever he missed him.

He gave the Pokemon a pat on the head and then pointed in the direction of the opponent. Understanding that it was his time to fight, Eevee went back onto the arena.

Red quickly checked the Pokedex before the fight. True to Blue's words, Geodude was a rock type Pokemon, but he also was a ground type, which Red had not taken into consideration when thinking about the tactics for this fight. Since Blue's Bellsprout was effective against both, the girl must have not noticed the difference.

After seeing that both Red and his Pokemon were ready for the battle, Brock gave his first command "Geodude, let's see what they have to show. Use Defense Curl."

The boulder brought up his arms to his body, covering his face and giving him a more evenly spherical shape.

"Is he underestimating us? Use Quick Attack!"

Eevee fired off like a bullet in the direction of his opponent.

"Turn!" Red instructed him when, the dog was close enough to his target.

Eevee changed the direction right in front of Geodude and veered a little to the right. Brock was surprised as he saw the Pokemon run past him, jump off the wall and come right back in a fluid sequence of moves which allowed him to deliver a blow to Geodude's back.

The rock Pokemon unfolded its arms and stopped itself from hitting the ground, avoiding any further damage.

"Dodge!" Brock yelled.

Geodude looked up to see that Eevee was continuing his attack and managed to use one of his arms to propel himself in the air.

"Counterattack!" ordered the leader.

Knowing what was expected of him in this types of situations, after facing many a challenger before, the boulder used its other hand to punch the dog in the head, with a force so great, that he completely stopped it in place. Geodude landed on the ground and quickly grabbed Eevee by the neck.

"It's over now" Brock declared triumphally.

Geodude held up Eevee above him and proceeded to repeatedly punch him with his free hand. The dog was struggling to get out of the enemy's grasp but was the grip was too strong. Although the Pokemon itself felt completely helpless, his trainer was quick to come up with a solution to the situation.

"Use Sand Attack with your tail!"

The Dog didn't notice until then that he could reach the ground and since he usually used that move with his legs, the command came as unexpected. He listened to it nevertheless. Sand flying into Geodude's eyes caused it to instinctively try to cover them, giving the dog a chance to escape. He ran to a safe distance and used the couple seconds, during which Geodude cleaned his eyes, to regain breath.

"A normal Quick Attack is too risky. If Eevee takes a couple more punches, the fight could be over..." Red muttered to himself during this time, but decided to speak up after coming up with what to do next "Eevee! Time for our signature move! Quick Attack Version B!"

"What?" Blue and Brock said simultaneously.

Eevee began using Quick Attack to run around the opponent who seemed just as confused by what was happening as his trainer.

"Mirror Room!"

Multiple afterimages of Eevee surrounded Geodude, and soon he started being attacked from every possible direction.

"Tackle!" Brock yelled for nothing, as his Pokemon was unable of any movement with Eevee closing in on him.

Finally, the rock Pokemon couldn't be even seen as he was encircled by a brown blur.

"Okay. That's enough." Red commanded.

The dog stopped in the best way he could, but his speed was still so great that he turned in such a way as to fall into Red's hands. The boy caught him, this way almost falling off the platform.

"Return." Brock said while pointing the pokeball in Geodude's direction.

He turned his gaze to Red, and after putting down his Pokemon, the challenger responded with a confident smile.

"It seems you are stronger than I thought. Still, I usually use Geodude to test the water before I use this guy. Go, Onix!"

Red didn't immediately realize what he was faced with since a big shadow suddenly obscured his vision. After a second, he looked up to see that it was caused by an enormous snake made up of boulders. Eevee backed up, visibly afraid of fighting this new foe.

"Eevee, don't worry. Such a big thing is probably really slow. Let's keep using Quick Attack and we'll win."

Reassured by his trainer, the dog started running at the enemy.

"Bide!" ordered Brock.

Although Onix remained in the same place, he was keenly observing Eevee's movement, while the normal Pokemon run around him to hit the part of the snake's body which was touching the ground. The first attack hit and didn't seem to bother the opponent at all. Not giving up, Eevee repeated it two more times. Brock noticed that after the third attack, his Pokemon closed his eye for a second as an expression of pain.

"It's ready! Time to unleash it!" the leader announced.

A white ball of light formed in Onix's mouth and shot out in Eevee's direction. The Pokemon jumped up to avoid it when it got too close for comfort, but when he glanced backward, the ball changed direction and like a homing missile followed the Pokemon. He tried to avoid it a couple more times, but was too focused on it and ran straight into one of the boulders covering the arena, allowing the attack to reach him.

"Eevee!" Red yelled hopelessly.

The Pokemon fainted and the boy had to use its pokeball to call it back. As she noticed his sad expression, Blue felt kind of ashamed. All the time they were together, Red didn't lose his confidence so seeing him like that and her not being able to help in any way, put her in an uncomfortable mood. Red's response to the loss was brought about by the fact that it was the first time it happened to him and Eevee.

He put away the pokeball and grabbed onto the other two in which he carried his partners. Looking at them for a while, he was analyzing which Pokemon to choose next, but also remembering that he wasn't alone. Eevee was his oldest companions but he still could count on these new ones. He finally reached the decision and looked up at Brock with a smile.

"Let's go, Pikachu!"

Red threw the pokeball into air causing Pikachu to be released at the height of Onix's face. The mouse shoot out a couple small sparks from its cheeks as it somersaulted. Onix moved slightly while looking at this acrobatic feat. He noticed as mischievous smile at Pikachu's face which to his surprise turned to a more pleasant one while the electric Pokemon landed on the ground. This, for some reason even he was unsure of, caused him to be more wary than he was previously.

"Why did he choose Pikachu?" Blue said under the nose.

She looked at Red. Even though his usual confidence returned, she suspected that it could be a facade. It seemed illogical to her that he would choose electricity over fire. While both of his Pokemon would be less effective against Onix, at least Charmander would have a bigger pool of moves to choose from. But Red thought this over and was sure that he made the right choice so she also decided to have faith in him.

"Before we continue, can I ask for one thing?"

Red's question surprised Brock but he was curious to see if this was part of some plan "Uuh, yeah. What is it?"

"Can you show us the badge that we are fighting for?"

"I know you're not trying to trick me, but I don't really see the point." answered the leader.

Nevertheless, he reached into his pocket, grabbed one of the couple of badges he always had prepared for the victorious challengers and showed it off to Red, making sure that the boy could see the front of it.

"How about it, Pikachu?"

"What?" Brock said in surprise.

After looking at the mouse Pokemon to understand what was happening, he felt shivers run through his body. Seeing the prize he was about to fight for, caused the electric Pokemon to show off a sinister expression, even more unsettling than the one he had shown to Onix. One would not expect to feel such a strong sense of greed from any being.

Brock quickly hid the badge as if he hoped that it would cause Pikachu to return to his cheery expression. It seemed to work to an extent. What was now painted on the Pokemon's face, resembled the same confidence that his trainer was exuding for a while.

"You saw that, Pikachu? Not only was that thing pretty, but it's also not something that just anybody can get. We agreed that you wouldn't steal anymore, but I'll let you touch it any time you want if we win this battle."

The Pokemon turned his head so that he could see his trainer with one eye and nodded while maintaining his confident smile.

"Okay. We have to be careful about that Bide move."

"Don't think that's the only tactic we have. Rock Tomb!"

Onix opened its mouth which shot out a boulder which grew in size as it was getting further from the Pokemon, and when it was about 2 meters in diameter it split into several smaller ones and they began to rain down on the arena.

"Avoid it with Quick Attack!"

Pikachu began zigzagging through the field, barely avoiding some of the boulders, not realizing that he was being led into a trap.

When the mouse was efficiently close to Onix's tail, Brock yelled out "Bind!"

The rock snake ensnared Pikachu with the end of his tail and began to tighten the grip when suddenly he stopped and his eyes became blank for a while. Pikachu took that chance to wiggle out and ran off to a safe distance.

"What happened?!" Brock was in shock.

Onix came back to his senses, and his trainer noticed that after a couple second, small traces of electricity flashed through the stone body.

"I guess you never met a trainer who thought about using an electric Pokemon against you. I got this device from Professor Oak..." Red said as he showed Brock the Pokedex "...and one of its useful functions is that it can tell you about a Pokemon's ability. Although electric attacks won't work on Onix, my Pikachu has an ability called "Static" which has a chance of paralyzing the opponent, even if it's a ground Pokemon."

"Is that why he chose Pikachu instead of Charmander?" pondered Blue.

"You're definitely one of the most interesting trainers I've faced."

"He didn't say that to me." the girl grumbled, unheard by the others.

"I didn't mention it before, but I also used Eevee's ability to my advantage." added Red.

"Don't think that this will stop us! Onix, use Screech!"

The rock Pokemon opened its mouth again, but this time instead of a boulder, he let out an agonizing sound which for a moment deafened both everyone besides itself and its trainer who covered his ears in time. Pikachu felt weaker after getting hit with this sound. He looked at his paws with a puzzled look, which gave Onix a chance to attack again.

"Rock Tomb!"

This time, the mouse Pokemon didn't manage to dodge the first of the falling boulders, which landed right next to him while hitting his face and knocking him into another one that just landed. The rest scattered around without damaging him, but now there was almost nowhere to move to. The spaces between boulders were too tight to fit and using Quick Attack on top of them could cause the loss of balance.

"Get on top of him!" ordered Red.

Pikachu listened to the command, and before the foe had a chance to react, he jumped onto his body and ran up it till he reached the head. Onix looked up in confusion.

"Play Nice!"

Pikachu smiled cheerfully at his opponent, and while the move lowered Onix's offensive abilities it also caused him discomfort instead of pleasure, since he already had preconceptions about the electric Pokemon's personality. Afraid of what hid behind that fake expression, Onix started to flail around in hope of throwing it off. Pikachu looked in his trainers direction while holding onto Onix's horn and after receiving a thumbs up gesture, he let go and smoothly landed on the railing of the balcony opposite of the one Blue was on.

"This is our chance! Use Rock Tomb!"

Onix shoot out a boulder at Pikachu. Since the target was closer, it didn't have time to split before hitting but the giant rock missed and indented itself into the railing, while Pikachu dodged to the side.

"Again! More to the left!"

Onix repeated the attack, and although the electric Pokemon managed to also avoid this one, he was now stuck between two rocks and a hard place. He still had a little of space to move but not enough to dodge the next attack.

"Rock Tomb one last time!"

"Iron Tail!"

Pikachu jumped towards the approaching attack and caused his tail to be covered in steel which allowed him to counterattack. The boulder was hit back straight into Onix's face. Parts of it were crushed but most reached the face of the rock Pokemon, causing him harm. While Onix wasn't overly hurt damaged by that reversal, he lost sight of his foe as the crushed boulder produced a cloud of dust. Brock was staring up, trying to figure out what happened to Pikachu but when he finally managed to do it, it was too late.

"Iron Tail!"

The mouse Pokemon hitting the boulder was not only meant to cause damage to the opponent, but also to launch him even higher so that he could grab onto one of the sprinklers mentioned previously by the leader. When the first attack was done, Pikachu dove down while spinning to add more impetus to his attack. It was so strong that Onix's head plummeted to the ground, causing him to be hurt even more by the boulders already scattered on the field. Before he could realize what was happening, Pikachu jumped up and spun around to deliver a second blow with his tail. He was preparing to continue but was stopped by Brock's shout.

"Enough!"

Pikachu looked at Red and when the trainer nodded, he traversed the boulders to reach him. Brock used that time to walk over to Onix and caress his head.

"You did good, buddy." he praised him while returning him to the pokeball.

Next, the leader walked over to the challenger. Blue also left the balcony and was standing a little behind Red.

"I want to congratulate you and your Pokemon on winning this battle. As a reward, the Boulder badge is yours." Brock said as he handed over the proof of victory.

Red looked at it for a while before kneeling down so that Pikachu could also take it into its hands and feel the result of his hard work.

"I know that you will go on to achieve great things. Meanwhile, I will have to contact my cleaning crew and get this place cleaned up before the next challenger arrives."

Hearing those words, Red realized that there was no time to waste so he quickly said "Could you explain one thing before we leave?"

"Sure. What is it?"

* * *

Hi. I'm back with another chapter. This... this was kind of tiring. But it was still fun at the same time. I'm really glad that I made the Pikachu capture its own chapter since this one is the longest yet, and I still didn't get to do all I wanted.

One of the things Red wanted to achieve at the end of chapter 5 was to get answers about the Viridian City Gym and I just felt like I had to end this one on a cliffhanger. Otherwise, it could be another 500 to 1000 words. I want to post new chapters fairy regularly and if I tried to write about that in this one, it could very well come out a week later. But that may be a good thing, since the next chapter felt kind of fillery before that stuff was moved to it.

There are a couple of things I wanted to comment on regarding this chapter though. First off, the jokes. I put a couple of dumb references in this one. It wasn't on purpose. Aside from having an outline of what should happen in a given chapter, I just mostly make it up on the spot. But I have a couple explanations if somebody didn't catch the references:

1\. The title is a pun on the manga Electric Tale of Pikachu.

2\. There are two references to the Pokemon anime. One is poking fun at how Ash always says that he's from Pallet Town, and the other at how he won against Brock. Still, I decided to bring back the sprinklers later in the chapter and use them in a different way.

3\. Red calling out his Pokemon with the phrases "Let's go, Eevee!" and "Let's go, Pikachu!" is a reference to the upcoming Pokemon games. Red having both of these Pokemon is in no way influenced by the announcement of these games and was planned long ago. I just give him Pokemon that I like and ones that fit a protagonist.

There are two other things I wanted to mention. First is Blue's development. It barely began, but what I mean is the beginning of this chapter where she talked about why she wants to win the Pokemon League. Blue feels very much like a female Red. They have similar personalities and that's part of why they get along so well while still making fun of one another, but I felt like I had to make her more dinstinct.

In the original plans for this story, her coming from Sevii Islands wasn't mentioned until much later and I feel that having this established from the beginning works better, especially with what I have planned for her down the line(eeeh, maybe, I'm not sure).

The other thing is, I worked on making at least each of Red's Pokemon have a different personality. It's kinda harder to do it for animals than for people but I hope you can see it through the desciptions in this and previous chapters. By that I mean, Eevee acts pretty much like any stereotypical dog, who is happy whenever his with his owner and likes to play around, Charmander is very prideful and eager to get into fights, which I guess is also a stereotype for fire Pokemon, and lastly Pikachu, who although he stopped his thieving ways, still retains a mischievous nature and can be easily convinced into anything as long as there is something to gain from it.

That's all I had to say about this chapter. Man... Not only is this the longest chapter so far, but this also feels like the longest explanation. I feel like I should get ahold of myself and write more cohesive stuff.

EDIT: I forgot to mention two other quick things. I decided to make Brock's Onix a composite of his Gen 1 and Gen 3 Onix to make the fight more interesting. And lastly, I never gave a description of Blue's clothes since in her first appearance she wore pajamas but I guess she just looks like Leaf/the female character from FireRed and LeafGreen.


	7. 7: Off the Rails

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 7: Off the Rails.

After defeating Brock and getting the Boulder badge Red was ready to get some answers about what happened to him in Viridian City.

"My question is..." the boy began.

"Wait. Is it going to take long?"

"Uuh... Kinda depends on you."

"Then let's sit down in the backroom." Brock said while pointing with his thumb to the opposite side of the room they were in.

"Okay. Pikachu, return." Red called back his Pokemon and soon the three humans went around the arena, into a corridor and through automatic doors to reach the place Brock mentioned.

It was clear that the backroom wasn't what is normally understood when someone uses that word. It had a bed, a sink, a small table with a portable oven on it, a tv, a wooden chest, a bookshelf, a device similar to the one used in Pokemon Centers to heal Pokemon and two sofas. Brock made a gesture towards the sofas, telling the guests to take their seats while he walked over to the chest and took out a jar which immediately after being opened, released a strong aroma of tea leaves.

"You want some?" he said to the trainers while filling the kettle with water.

Both of them shook their heads from side to side, so he stopped before he would have more water than he needed. He put the kettle on the portable oven and sat on the sofa opposite to the one the teenagers were already on.

"So, what did you want to ask me?" the leader asked while leaning forward intently.

"Oh, man. How to phrase this?" Red tried to think of a way to get to the truth the as quick as possible "I... What do you know about the Gym in Viridian City?"

Brock looked slightly surprised, but immediately regained his composure and proceeded to respond "Well... There are some things that I could tell you about it and some that I can't. Not because I don't want to... It's just... That place and the leader that owns it are both very mysterious."

"What do you mean?" Blue also became interested.

"I'm sure you guys both know that there are 8 Gyms in Kanto. What you may not know is that for a long time there were only 7. There isn't a specific rule for how many Gyms a region needs. I heard there are some where they don't have Gyms at all. But it is kind of assumed that you need 8 Gyms to hold an official Pokemon League tournament. The problem was that the Kanto Pokemon League Organization Committee just didn't have enough money. Then, about 10 years ago, a mysterious man offered to help create an eight Gym under the condition that he be the leader and the gym would still be privately owned by him, so he could close it down any time he wanted. It seems he was very rich and beside building that Gym, he invested in the other ones, in the Pokemon League stadiums and in promoting the lifestyle of a Pokemon trainer."

A whistle interrupted Brock so he turned off the oven and poured the hot water into a cup filled with tea leaves, after which he sat back down.

"He seems like a great guy." Blue commented.

"Yeah. I wasn't a leader back then. I got this job after my father passed 2 years ago. But, while that man helped us all greatly, he was also a very mysterious person. Most of the leaders, while not being obligated to do it, attend the Pokemon League as spectators. After battling many trainers, some of us pick favorites who we'd like to see win the League, and you can't get better seats than ours. During my first year as a leader, this man was the only one that didn't attend the League. I tried asking the others about him. It seems that Mr. Koga and Doctor Blaine both know him, although the first one doesn't seem to like him, while both of them, didn't reveal anything particularly interesting about him. I know he's a male, that he uses ground type Pokemon and is very strong. He also helped Doctor Blaine in his research, although I have no idea what's that about either."

Brock took a quick break to regain his breath.

"He caused some problems for the League. He insisted that he'd be the last leader that every trainer had to face but he didn't announce it anywhere so many trainers would complain to other leaders about being turned away at his door."

"Maybe that's what happened to me?" Red wondered.

"When were you there?"

"2 weeks ago? I think."

"Then that's not it. After helping develop the League and the causing problems for the people his campaign encouraged to be trainers, he suddenly disappeared about a couple months before the last League. They sent some people to contact him, but the Gym was closed and nobody could come into contact with him. Many trainers couldn't attend the League because they didn't get the last badge. This time around, we are back to needing only 7 badges to get into the League. Of course, there are different ways, like letters of recommendation and such."

"That all seems very suspicious. Especially after what I encountered there."

"Why did you go there anyway?"

"I just searched the internet for the closest Gym. I only looked up the location and didn't notice the note that said it was closed down."

"I see. So what happened there?"

"Was it Team Rocket?" Blue interjected.

"Team Rocket?!" Brock was so shocked that he stood up.

"Yes. You could say that I'm not really into news so I haven't heard about them before meeting one of their members in front of the Viridian City Gym." Red responded.

"What was he doing there?" the girl asked.

"It seemed like he was protecting it. He spotted me when I was trying to get inside and tried to get rid off me. He really didn't want anybody to know that I saw him there. I beat him in a Pokemon battle and he ran away. What do you think about it?"

Brock started pacing around the room with an expression filled with concern. He gave a couple quick glances to Red and finally stopped next to his tea and took a few sips to calm himself down.

"I'm sure that you're telling the truth. You really don't seem like a bad person. But I will have to ask you to not pursue this any longer. Team Rocket are very dangerous, especially when they act as a group. I'll contact the League and the police to try to learn what's going on. I'll make sure to call you if I learn anything. Is that fine with you?" the leader said and extended his hand to the trainer.

Red stood up and answered with a handshake and the words "You got it."

Soon after that, the trainers left and Brock was left alone to ponder the possibilities of the connection between the mysterious Gym leader and Team Rocket.

. . .

Several days later, the colorful duo arrived at Mount Moon and were resting at the Pokemon Center located close to the entrance of a cave system which led to the other side and further to Cerulean City. Blue returned to the corner in which Red was playing with Pikachu, and attached both of the pokeballs housing her Pokemon to her belt. Red squinted his eyes at her and seeing that, Pikachu tried to mimic him.

"What?" Blue was startled after seeing their faces.

"You went out to train?"

"Yeah."

"And you used your other Pokemon."

"Yeah.

"When are you gonna show it to me?"

"Oh, give it a rest. I want it to be a surprise. You won't see him until I'll need to save your ass."

"My ass? I can take care of it by myself! Hmph."

"Excuse me?" a sweet sounding, quiet voice reached their ears.

Both of them looked to the side to see a bald, slightly overweight, old man with a kind smile.

"Good morning, youngsters. Do you have some time to spare?"

"Sure. What is it?" Blue answered.

"I see that you are Pokemon trainers. I was once a Pokemon trainer myself but as you see I'm too old for this stuff. That's why I decided to give out my Pokemon. I can give you a very rare Pokemon. Not for free, of course. I have to gather money for my retirement."

"Uhh... I'm not sure. What Pokemon is it?" Red asked.

"I can't tell. If I tell, you'll probably try to haggle. You have to pay 500 gold upfront and there's also no take backs. I warn you, but it's still a really great deal. So, how about it?"

Red looked at the man with a helpless expression. He thought about how he wouldn't like to release the Pokemon, even if he was not satisfied with it.

"I don't want it." Blue said nonchalantly.

"What? Are you sure?!" the man went into panic.

"Yeah. I have to conserve money so I decided that I'm only gonna use 6 Pokemon on this journey. I don't want to take chances with something that could prove not useful. No offense."

"How about you, boy?" the man asked with a helpless tone.

"I..." Red started.

"Help!" a yell ringed out from the entrance to the Pokemon Center.

Red immediately stood up to see what's going on. He saw a male trainer who was out of breath and had a badly hurt Butterfree in his arms. The nurse immediately ran over to him and proceeded to put the Pokemon in a restorative chamber. Red noticed that the boy had four pokeballs attached to his belt but one of them was cracked. Ignoring the old man who was still trying to get him to buy the supposedly rare Pokemon, the teenager quickly approached the trainer who was trying to wipe off tears from his face.

"What happened?" Red asked.

The trainer looked up and saw not only Red, but also Blue who reached out with a hand holding a napkin. The person took it and wipe away the tears.

"It was Team Rocket." he said.

Red felt a cold chill run through his spine. Blue was very shocked, but still more curious about what her friends reaction was like so she glanced at his face. She jumped a little while she saw that Red was grinning from ear to ear. His eyes looked like the ones of a hungry beast seeing its prey.

"They are inside Mount Moon." the trainer continued while looking down, so he didn't notice how his words affected the duo "I think they are trying to gather Moon Stones, but they are attacking every Pokemon and trainer who sees them. They beat all my Pokemon and destroyed Butterfree's pokeball... I..."

He started crying again.

"Don't worry." Red said while passing him and patting on the back "I'm gonna get them."

Blue followed him outside the Pokemon Center.

"What do you mean "I'm gonna get them"? What are you planning to do exactly?" the girl asked.

"Brock didn't contact us yet. Aren't you curious about why a Team Rocket member protected the Gym in Viridian?"

"I am. But don't you remember what he said? They are dangerous. You saw what happened to that guy." she tried to reason with him but judging by his face, she saw that her efforts were futile.

As they walked onward, Red's expression lessened in intensity. He looked back at Blue who although visibly worried, still walked a couple steps behind him.

"Hey. If you're scared, you don't have to come with me."

"What?!"

After spending some time with her, Red knew how to press her buttons so that she wouldn't be down.

"I'm sure that I'll kick more Team Rocket butt than you!" she yelled out without giving it much thought.

"Yeah. Especially with that secret weapons of yours."

Finally realizing what the boy was trying to do, the girl blushed in embarrassment and stuck out her tongue at him.

. . .

They finally reached the entrance. It was so big that a stone hallway was lit up by the sunlight falling into the cave system. Nevertheless, Red called out Pikachu so that he could use his electricity to light up the way later on. After a couple meters of walking, they reached a room which had multiple openings leading in different directions. The trainers began looking around to decide which one to enter since at first glance all seemed the same.

"This one leads to Cerulean City" Blue noted after spotting a sign above one of the openings.

"We don't know that they're not in one of the other ones." Red said while looking from one hallway to another "We should have asked that guy about the way."

"Whose fault is this?" Blue said with annoyance in her voice.

"I have an idea."

"What is it?"

"Let's get Pikachu to decide."

"Why do you think that's a good idea?"

"Pikachu has a nose for treasures. And Moon Stones are like treasures, aren't they? So he'll know the way."

"There's so much wrong with that logic, but we're not gonna reach any other conclusion so we might as well."

The mouse Pokemon sniffed around some of the hallways while visible avoiding other ones. He finally decided on one and let out a happy cry "Pipikapi!"

"See?" Red looked at Blue pridefully.

"Okay, okay. Let's go."

They took only a couple steps before Blue tripped. Red helped her up and they both noticed that the hallway they have chosen had tracks going through it. As they followed them, the walls got further and further, until they reached another room. The tracks went further to another opening, and the place was filled with broken pickaxes and helmets.

"This must have been a mine." The girl noted.

"Hey. Look at this!" Red yelled out in excitement.

As it turned out, the tracks split into two ways, with one of them ending in the room and a minecart in a fairly good condition being placed on them. There was a lever next to it which by Red's judgement would not only put the vehicle into motion, but also switch the tracks so that it could leave the room. He turned to Blue with a big smile on his face.

"Oh no. You aren't thinking abouwooah!" she was interrupted when Red grabbed her by the waist and quickly put her in the cart.

"No! Wait!" she yelled while trying to get out but was too late.

Red and Pikachu jumped inside, not leaving a lot of space and the boy pulled the lever. The minecart began moving, slowly but steadily. It still was too quick to the point where Blue wasn't sure if she would land safely after jumping out. After leaving the room, they began gaining on speed while going through a narrow hallway.

Soon, the tracks stopped being laid out on the ground, instead being held up by stilts. Blue made the mistake of looking down and got even more scared when she realized that she couldn't see the bottom of the cave because of how high they were. They must have been going about 60 kilometers per hour. Red held onto the front of the cart, while the other two grabbed onto him.

"Why are you grabbing me?!" Red yelled out in surprise after feeling Blue's touch.

"I'm scared! Whose fault do you think it is?!"

"Oh!"

"What "Oh!"?"

"The tracks are ending!"

"What do you mean the tracks are..." Blue said as she leaned to the side to see past Red.

She yelled out and incomprehensible exclamation when she saw that the tracks were in fact ending, and it seemed like they were doomed to fall to their deaths.

"What are wo gonna do?!" she started tearing up.

"Don't worry." Red said while turning to her with a calm smile "I'm sure we'll meet in heaven."

"You're going to hell!" those were her last words as the cart fell off the tracks.

Red managed to grab onto Pikachu and the trainers jumped to different sides while hoping for some way to save themselves.

* * *

It's the next chapter. There wasn't really much to this one so I'll try to be short. I wonder if Blue's mystery Pokemon is really a mystery to any of the readers. I mean, it's a mystery to Red but otherwise it should be painfully obvious.

What else? We finally learn something about the Viridian Gym. It's another thing that should be obvious but I gave it some more thought. You can look over Brock's words and find things that may be clues to some things that will happen in the future or have already happened in the past. Last thing is, I don't want anybody to take Red's attitude the wrong way. He's not as insane as he sometimes seems. That's it, folks.


	8. 8: Explorers of Darkness

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 8: Explorers of Darkness.

"Nooo. I can't eat any more beans. I don't even like beans."

Pikachu watched the sleeping face of his trainer, who somehow was able to talk in his dream, with a look of disappointment. He decided to forgive this unsightly behavior mostly because the boy covered him in his hands so that the electric Pokemon didn't take any damage from the fall. They still were fairly lucky, since instead of the bottom of the cave, they landed on a ledge extending from the wall a couple meters down. Nevertheless, Red hit himself in the head and has been unconscious for a couple hours and has suddenly began talking about various things he would eat for breakfast when he was still living with his parents.

Pikachu decided that it was time to wake the teenager up by using a small amount of his electricity. The boy opened his eyes and got himself up to a sitting position in a hurry as he let out an intelligible scream. After calming down, he looked around, while rubbing his eyes and covering the yawning coming from his mouth, to get an idea of where he currently was.

"Oh, Pikachu." he said after noticing the Pokemon who was sitting next to him "I'm glad that you're not hurt. Wait... Am I hurt?"

He reached to the back of his head with the right hand and then looked at it but there was no blood, so he decided to count himself lucky. He slowly stood up and walked towards the edge. He could see the tracks from which they fell but the bottom was still far away. They were too far from the other side to see if Blue also managed to land on some ledge.

The boy heard the voice of his Pokemon and when he turned around, he realized that there was a narrow opening in the wall behind them. He checked to see if he would fit inside and if the sides didn't have any sharp protrusions. After determining that he could safely pass, Red ordered Pikachu to walk in front and continue to provide a light source. After a couple minutes of walking, the ceiling of the corridor started to get lower and the boy had to hunch over and finally to start walking on his knees which proved to be tiring because he slid his legs against hard rocks.

"Pika!" the Pokemon spoke up and pointed towards them.

Red, who has stopped to rest and was caressing his aching knees, looked at what Pikachu was trying to show him and noticed that the tunnel seemed to end and there was some sort of light coming through from the outside.

"Let's check it, but be careful. This may lead us to the outside of Mount Moon and I don't feel like taking another fall."

They both were very surprised when they reached the end of the tunnel and what they save was an enormous room full of various minerals, many of which were giving off a bright light which made the entirety of the place completely visible. Additionally, it seemed like some parts of this place were sculpted with Red noticing rock stairs leading to the center of the room, where a group of Pokemon were loudly arguing over something.

The trainer picked up Pikachu and he slid down the small hill and landed right next to the group of Pokemon where he noticed that they were gathered around something akin to an altar with one of them laying on top of it. Red took out his Pokedex and learned that those were Clefairy, Pokemon who according to legends came from the Moon and started living in this mountain, so the place was named after the Moon.

Some of them backed off in fear but one stood up to Red and tried to punch him in the leg. He missed because the trainer passed him by to walk over to the altar. After looking at the one laying there, he came to the conclusion that it was poisoned by another Pokemon. He reached into his bag and, after rummaging a bit, took out a Pecha Berry and put it near the hurt Clefairy's mouth. At first, it didn't want to eat it, but seeing how the boy insisted and it was in too much pain to fight back, the Pokemon bit into the berry. Suddenly, it felt a wave of pleasant shivers come over its body and slowly got up while taking more bites of the berry, finally consuming it in its entirety.

The other ones observed this scene with amazement, but when the healed Clefairy let out a happy cry, they all answered in the same way, causing quite a lot of noise. They started jumping onto the altar to shake their friends hands. There were around 20 of them so they all didn't fit on there. The rest started gathering around Red and hugging his legs.

"It's okay. Calm down, calm down." he said since he felt a little awkward.

The Pokemon decided to give him space after the healed one seemingly ordered them to do it. The one that tried to oppose Red at the beginning ran up one set of stairs and reached into a small opening in a wall. He returned soon and pushed his way through the crowd. Red squatted to see what the Pokemon wanted. Clefairy put forward both of its hands, holding in them two peculiar stones covered in shining dust.

"I wonder if these are the Moon Stones that Team Rocket is after?" Red said to himself while examining the gifts.

"They are. So would you mind handing them over?"

Red looked around and stopped when he saw that two men dressed in Team Rocket outfits were walking down the stairs. The room had a couple different exits so they must have heard the ruckus made by celebrating Clefairies and walked in through one of them.

The one walking in front had a confident smile on his face while the other one was either very angry about something or very constipated, it was hard to tell. Red gave a quick look to Pikachu and snapped his fingers. Before the criminals could understand what was happening, the electric Pokemon used Quick Attack to deliver a blow to the belly of the smiling one, which sent him back up the stairs and crashing into the other one. Pikachu landed and waited for their reaction.

"Hey! Get off me!" the second man yelled.

When he realized that his companion passed out after being hit, he pushed him off himself, causing the body to roll down the stairs, probably hurting him even more than the Quick Attack. The angry man got up and tried to reach for a pokeball attached to his belt but a swift electric charge delivered to his hand by Pikachu, proved enough to make him abandon that idea. Instead, he chose to run away the same way he arrived in the chamber.

"We're going after him. He will lead us to the others." Red told Pikachu while running up the steps.

On the way, he passed the other one so he turned around to the group of Clefairies "Can you take care of him if he wakes up and tries anything?"

The one who was healed and the one who gave Red the Moon Stones both let out a confident shout, while the other ones just nodded.

. . .

A Team Rocket member with reddish-brown hair combed to the side in a stylish manner, wearing black rimmed glasses and a yellow muffler was sitting on a flat boulder and reading a pocket-sized book from a famous writer in Kalos region, filled with poetry about the nature and people. One of his underlings was standing above him with a flashlight since the light provided by shining minerals wasn't enough and the man didn't like to strain his already deteriorating eyesight.

6 other members he took with him on this escapade were resting in the same chamber, while 2 others seemed to wander off somewhere. He disliked that he would have to punish them, but he decided to always be strict with upholding his orders since he didn't want anybody to get an idea of taking his place as one of the Admins.

"Alex! Hey, Alex!" a yell rang out from somewhere.

The Admin closed the book while sighing at the stupidity of somebody showing this kind of impertinence, even though they all should have known what the consequences were. He slowly stood up while the underling beside him reluctantly turned off the flashlight. Soon, the man who escaped from his meeting with Red, arrived in the room while breathing heavily. The Admin gestured to another one, a woman, and she provided the arriving member with a bottle of water. He drank almost half of it and looked up at his boss who now walked over and was right in front of him.

"Alex, it's terri-" he started out but didn't have a chance to finish.

The Admin lifted his leg as high as the underlings head and kicked it from the side, causing the man to fall on the ground.

"We aren't on equal terms, you piece of trash. Don't ever call me by my name again."

The man turned over and touched his face, feeling that he lost 2 or 3 teeth thanks to that kick. A sign of tears appeared in his eyes, seeing how he was treated after what he just went through at the hands of Red, only to get punished after trying to deliver a warning to his teammates.

"Hey, Alex. Don't treat him so badly. It looks like the poor guy is about to piss his pants."

A vein popped up on the Admins forehead and he gritted his teeth as he looked around to see where that voice came from. Not seeing anyone owning up to these words, he finally yelled out "Who the hell said that?!"

"Pika!"

As Alex turned around, he barely noticed a yellow streak passing him. Pikachu hit one of the Team Rocket's members and ricocheted into another one, knocking them both out, before returning to the side of his trainer who just then appeared from one of the entrances to the room. The mouse used its tail to high five its trainer after jumping up far enough. Alex looked around, slowly realizing what has happened. He ventured out to Mount Moon with 9 underlings. Now, 2 of them were passed out, 1 was missing and 1 was crying on the floor.

"You seem to think you're some kind of badass for eliminating a couple of these guys. I don't know who you are and don't care. You are interrupting the assignment we got from boss so we will have to kick your ass. Not me, mind you. These guys will be enough." Alex said to Red.

The other members of Team Rocket understood what he meant and called out their Pokemon. Red was now faced with a group of 5 Koffings which floated around the chamber while smiling menacingly.

"Hey. 5 of these ugly balls against my Pikachu? That's not really fair."

"We are Team Rocket. We don't play fair." responded one of the members.

"Wow. Is everything you guys say a cliché?" Red said with a disappointed look "Anyway, I should tip the scales a little in my favor. Come on, my buddies!"

Red released the remaining two of his Pokemon from their pokeballs. Charmander immediately took a fighting stance, smiling, anticipating the start of the battle. Eevee, like he usually did, ran to his trainer to receive a pat on the head before the battle. One of the Team Rocket members swallowed saliva gathering in his mouth from fear of how calm their opponent seemed to be, even with the odds seemingly stacked against him.

"What are you waiting for?! Attack already!" yelled out Alex who in the meantime sat back down on the boulder he was on before.

One of the startled underlings looked back at their leader, then turned around an commanded "Koffing, use Smog!"

"You too!" the other four also ordered their Pokemon.

The group of Koffing gathered in a line and let out purple clouds filled with poison towards their opponent. The attacks combined into one, which covered almost half of the space between the walls, floor and ceiling, giving Red and his Pokemon scarce chance to avoid it. Unfortunately for them, the teenager had a different plan.

"Ember!"

Charmander, being the only one to whom that command could apply, stepped forward and shoot a barrage of fiery bullets into the thick, poisonous fog. The Team Rockets members standing on the other side, couldn't see what was happening at first, so they were waiting with anticipation for the attack to hit their Pokemon. Instead, as soon as the flaming balls touched the cloud of poison, they caused it to combust in a frighteningly quick way.

The flames headed towards the mouths of Koffings from which the cloud were still being emitted, and in a fraction of a second, caused a big explosion. Red managed to grab Charmander who was the closest to it of his teammates and jumped on the ground where he hoped that it wouldn't reach quickly rolled over, when a piece of rock fell from the ceiling near his head, to make sure that anything wouldn't hit him. After a couple seconds of loud noises and blinding light, the boy slowly got up and looked at the thinning smoke left after the explosion. After a while, the group of Koffing could be seen again, but this time, they were all laying fainted on the floor.

"My arm!" one of the Team Rockets member shrieked in pain since it seemed that a rocky shard sunk into his forearm.

When he saw Red, he looked up in anger and started moving towards him in a staggering manner, until he saw a hand blocking his way. Somehow, Somehow, Alex managed to move past everyone, who were either checking for injuries or still covering their heads while squirming on the ground.

"I'm impressed by your abilities, my boy." he said.

"What? How old are you exactly?" Red wondered.

"I... Don't interrupt me! Anyway... You managed to beat almost all of my underlings..."

"No, I beat them all. There was one more guy who I defeated a couple minutes ago."

"Oh. They you managed to beat all of them. Wonderful!"

"Wait... Why is it wonderful that I won?"

"Don't you get it? This is a golden opportunity! One that comes once in a lifetime! I always seek to raise the standard of our group, yet I have to deal with these bumbling buffoons. I don't know yet if you are a man of culture like myself, but I recognize your tactical wit and fighting abilities. If you joined Team Rocket, you would surely raise in ranks in no time. I would humbly say that I'm the second or third strongest person in the organization. With your strength, you could fit in right below me. So, how about it?"

"How about no?"

Alex looked at him with an empty expression of surprise "Let me get it clear. You are saying "no"?"

"Absolutely. It's nothing against you, but I just heard all this bad stuff about your group. And all this time you acted all high and mighty but I still haven't seen you do anything that would make me impressed."

Alex laughed out aloud, causing his underlings to back off. They knew that him acting in this way wouldn't lead to anything good.

"Of course! Of course! You would need to see my abilities before you recognized my authority! Then, how about we make a deal? If I win here, you will join Team Rocket, but if I lose, we will leave Mount Moon and never return here."

One of the underlings looked as if he wanted to get up and protest, but a quick glance from Alex, stopped the man in his tracks.

"I'll raise the stakes!" Red answered happily "If I ever lose to any Team Rocket goon, I will join you right away. But if I win, you have to tell me why are you guys guarding the Viridian City Gym!"

Alex took a step back, being in shock after hearing the teenagers demand. Their association with that place was one of the biggest secret about Team Rocket, yet somehow a part of it leaked out. After mentally reminding himself that he has nothing to worry about, since he was sure of winning the upcoming fight, Alex readjusted his glasses with the middle finger of his left hand and stretched both of his arms a little, before detaching from the belt the only pokeball he carried with him.

"I'll allow you to use all your Pokemon. You can use them all at the same time or one by one. Basically, do whatever you want."

"You seem pretty confident. Just don't cry about it when we beat you!" Red answered while stepping forward, with all three of his Pokemon lined up in front of him.

"Don't worry. I won't. Go!" Alex said as he threw the pokeball into air.

. . .

Somewhere else in the massive cave system, the Team Rocket member who was left alone in the room full of Clefairies after Pikachu attacked him, was running as fast as he could, since the group of pink Pokemon began throwing rocks at him as soon as he woke up. He didn't even know what direction he was running in.

At one point he stopped hearing the rocks being thrown at him so he looked back without stopping his legs and saw that he wasn't being chased anymore.

Suddenly, he noticed that what he was looking at has started turning upside down, and after hitting the ground, he realized that something lifted him up into the air and then threw him onto the floor of the cave. He got up, mouth full of dirt and angrily looked at who had done it to him. It turned out to be an Ivysaur.

"Huh? Where did this thing come from?" he said in astonishment.

"Are you alright?" a voice came from past the grass Pokemon.

The Team Rocket member saw who he assumed to be the trainer of Ivysaur. What he did not know was that it was Green, the same person who saved Red from a flock of Spearow on Route 1. The teenager reached out with his hand to help the man stand up.

"Next time look forward when running. You almost ran into me, so Ivysaur instinctively used its vines to protect me."

The criminal slapped the helping hand away, and got up by himself.

"I don't need your charity! Everybody is treating me like trash today! I'm gonna relieve my anger by kicking your ass!" he yelled while grabbing Green by the collar of his shirt.

Suddenly, he felt drowsy to the point of yawning. Slowly, he lost his strength and will to fight, let go of Green and collapsed to the floor again. It was the doing of Ivysaur who used Sleep Powder to protect his trainer.

"Good job. But this guy... It looks like he's a Team Rocket member. We should tie him up and at least call the police after leaving him in front of one of the entrances. I wonder if he's alone. Well, I would have to be a fool to search for a group of dangerous criminals in this massive mountain that I don't know my way around."

. . .

In another part of the cave system, a person fitting what Green described was beginning to regret his overconfidence, as Pikachu was sent flying past him and straight into a wall. It got up by propping itself up on its leg. One of its eyes was closed as it was trying to deal with the pain. After seeing that his Pokemon was still ready to fight, Red looked back to his opponent.

Alex was using what seemed to also be a Pikachu, but a second later changed shape to get ready for Charmander who was attempting to get it with Scratch. For a small time it was a violet blob, but it quickly became an exact copy of its foe, and blocked the attack with a Scratch of its own.

"Ember!" ordered Alex.

"Get back!" yelled Red.

Charmander belonging to the teenager wasn't fast enough, and was hit straight in the face, which sent him crashing down into the ground. Eevee attempted to use the situation, thinking that the opponent was distracted, but the copy lizard spun around, transformed into the dog and kicked with both of its leg, causing Eevee to hit the ground right next to Charmander.

"Now you see why I was so confident that I could beat all your Pokemon." Alex said, as his Pokemon changed back into its original form and using elasticity, jumped onto the criminals shoulder "Give up now. You'll join Team Rocket either way and at least your Pokemon will avoid getting beaten up any more. We may be known as villains but we care for our own."

"Then what about your underlings?"

"Oh, I care about them. I sometimes have to punish them if they act like cretins, which they usually do, but I don't necessarily take pleasure in it. Maybe expect for Roger. I hate that he showers once a week."

"But it's a waste of water!" spoke up one of the Team Rocket members.

"Shut up, Roger! Or I'm going to tell the cooks to not give you dessert for the next month!"

Roger swallowed saliva in fear, after which he saluted "Yes, sir!"

The Admin turned his attention back to Red "Now, where were we? Oh, yes. Have you decided to give up?"

"Far from it. In the time you were arguing, I came up with a sure win strategy."

"Really? I'd like to see it. I'll give you a couple seconds to at least get your plan into motion before Ditto stops you."

"You are very generous."

"You could say that's my second name." Alex answered sarcastically and chuckled a little.

After being surrounded by incompetent thugs or people who thought themselves to be better than him, it was nice to talk to somebody who showed promise, but not enough to ever get too big for their britches.

"Okay. Do you understand." Red stood up after explaining the strategy he came up with to all his Pokemon.

They looked a little unsure, but decided to execute the order anyway. Alex looked with curiosity as Eevee stepped forward and bent its legs to allow Pikachu to get on its back. Next, Charmander climbed onto the back of Pikachu. Finally, Eevee stood up slowly, as to not lose the balance. They all were on all four limbs and formed a bizarre tower where most of what Alex could see were their heads.

"What? What is this?" he asked in confusion.

"Your Ditto can't transform into all of them, at least not fast enough, if they are in this formation. I call this new strategy: Totemon!"

The Team Rocket members, including those who were beginning to regain their consciousness, started laughing uncontrollably.

"Here I was hoping that it was something clever... Ditto, attack the Eevee!"

The violet blob took on an aerodynamic shape as it flew through the air, but instantly assumed the dog Pokemon's form when it touched the floor. It proceeded to use Quick Attack, but Red had no reason to give any more orders, since he already prepared his team for this during the short briefing.

When the enemy approached them, the Pokemon jumped up in short intervals, starting with Charmander and ending with Eevee. The Foe stopped in astonishment when he realized that he didn't hit anything. It looked up to see its opponent falling down on it, intending to use Scratch, Tackle and Iron Tail respectively. It instinctively tried to cope with this situation by transforming into one of them, but it couldn't choose which one, changing its form several times during a short span of time, until it finally went back to its original appearance, at which point, all the attacks hit it, causing it to get splashed on the ground.

"It seems I won." Red said with a prideful look.

His Pokemon, after determining that their opponent fainted, even though his body returned to a more solid form after a couple seconds, all jumped up and performed a team high five.

"Come back, Ditto." Alex returned the Pokemon to its ball and looked at Red "I have to congratulate you."

"Oh. Thanks. I..."

"But! You said that you'll join Team Rocket if any our members beat you. We still have 3 Koffings left and your Pokemon are pretty worn out after our battle. Let's see how long you can last!"

The members of Team Rocket who were attacked before they could use their Pokemon previously, all called out their Koffings. They already received explanation as to why they shouldn't use Smog, so they were all smiling deviously, knowing that the odds were in their favor. Opting for a physical approach, all of them yelled out "Tackle!"

"Air Cutter!"

Before the poisonous orbs could do anything, a series of what seemed to be blades made out of air, came raining down from somewhere above, causing them all to get hurt and plummet to the ground. This caused everyone to look up to the ceiling, where they just then noticed an opening which must have led to another chamber, as the attacked was caused by a Zubat which flew through there.

Understanding what was happening, Red ran over to cover Alex's eyes. The Koffing owners were too busy trying to run from the Zubat, which tried to bite them, while the rest of criminals were on the far end of the room. This allowed Blue to jump down without worries, although she still held onto her skirt. Red looked back at her and they both exchanged a thumbs up gesture. Soon, he was standing by her side and the Zubat stopped his attack to fly besides his owner.

"Don't you wanted to take a peek?"

"As if, stupid. Is that your mystery Pokemon?"

"No, I caught Bat when I was searching for you. Although, seeing what the situation is, I guess it's time. Go, Bell and Tori!"

Blue threw two pokeballs into the air, releasing Bellsprout, but also a light blue Pokemon that Red hasn't seen before. He quickly used his Pokedex to learn that it was a Squirtle.

"So why were you keeping it a mystery?"

"Are you kidding me? Squirtles are pretty rare. I was lucky to get it from Professor Oak."

"What?!" Red jumped back in shock "That means you are the third trainer! Or, I guess you are the second since I'm the third."

"Anyway, that's not what's important right now. Team Rocket! You wanted a three on three battle, so let's make it fair! My three Pokemon against your Koffings!"

"No." Alex declared "That's enough. I don't want to come off as a sore loser. I'll uphold my end of the deal and we are gonna leave this place. I'm gonna call that one underling later and tell him that the mission is over. We lost. I know that you dislike clichés, boy, but the next time we meet, I'm gonna be the winner."

"Good luck with that. One last thing. I raised the stakes, remember? What is the deal with the Viridian Gym?"

"Well, I guess I may as well tell you. I don't really get why the boss still has someone guard that place. Maybe he's nostalgic?"

"Nostalgic?" Blue asked.

"Yes. Our boss was previously the leader of that Gym and the only reason he opened that place was to scout out new Team Rocket members. After finally gathering enough, he abandoned it. Well... not completely, it seems."

"Thanks for telling the truth." Red walked over and reached out his hand, but Alex shook his head to the sides in response.

"We can't become friends. Not yet. But... What is your name?"

"It's Red."

"Red. I'll remember you." after saying that he turned around to his underlings "Okay, you stinking piles of shit! We are getting out of here!"

"Yes, Mr Alex!"

* * *

It's not like I'm desperately trying to make long chapters, but before putting in these notes at the end, this chapter is actually the longest one so far. It's probably because a lot of it wasn't actually planned to appear in it.

The whole thing with Clefairy was meant to go in the previous chapter but I preferred to leave it on a "cliffhanger"(almost literally).

The part with Green was a completely new addition. He was going to appear soon anyway, so I just decided to show a little of his journey, since the story is really Red centric. When planning the stories I realized that too late, so I'm gonna try to put in more intermissions like that.

This chapter introduced the biggest number of Pokemon, while also showing the first Team Rocket Admin. Alex came off a little more immature than I intended him to be but he's still in the top three of the villains I have planned for this series so far. I know there was a reason I gave him that name but I'm not sure what it was.

By the way, the title comes from one of the Pokemon Mystery Dungeon games.

From other news, after two weeks I finished Beck. I really liked it up until the last episode. I have no idea if that end was anime original or what but they should have had like an OVA or something to wrap things up nicely instead of rushing it. But why am I talking about it? I just feel like everything I watch ifluences my writing to some degree, consciously or not and I guess I'd like to give credit. It's like, when books have a page where authors thank their friends for inspiring them and helping them get through writing. I have friends, but they're not much help in this department. Most of my inspirations I get from anime, youtube comedy gamers(like GG and AH) and music(which is mostly also from anime).

That's it for today. It was nice that I could do the next chapter so quickly, but I really should get to work on my BA thesis. We'll see how that goes.


	9. 9: Nugget Bridge is Falling Down

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 9: Nugget Bridge is Falling Down.

"It looks like I'm at the right place."

Green was looking up at the small house standing in front of him while holding a piece of paper which was a quickly drawn map he received from a person in the city, after he asked them how to get to this place.

Before beginning his journey, he learned a great deal about Pokemon from his grandpa, but Professor Oak assured him that there were many other people he could gain knowledge from. One of them was Bill, the brilliant teenager responsible for creating the Pokemon Storage System which has since been put into use all over the world. Unfortunately, he didn't think ahead and copyright his idea which according to Oak's estimation, would have made him one the richest people in the Kanto Pokemon League was still very grateful so they decided to build this house for him and fund any of his future research.

Since Bill didn't want to disturb anybody, he lived outside of Cerulean City and one had to go through the famous Nugget Bridge to get there. Green woke up as soon as he could but the walk to this place still took him a good couple hours. It was almost noon, and Bill couldn't have left the house and not pass Green on the way, so it was weird that he didn't answer the door.

As he pondered at whether to give up on meeting the scientist or wait some more, he heard a screech behind he turned around, he saw a tanned girl with pink hair braided into twin tails, in tight, orange shorts and with a sleeveless shirt in the same color which revealed her belly. She was getting off her bike while moving the glasses she was wearing up her head. She noticed the trainer after a couple seconds of making sure that her bike was stable.

"Oh? Are you a friend of Bill's?" she asked.

Green turned his head to the sides and answered "No. I had reasons to meet him but he didn't answer the door."

"That's weird. He was supposed to meet with me 2 hours ago but he didn't come so I was worried about him." she said while putting her hand on the door handle "It's open. Let's go in. Maybe he got sick, since he didn't even call."

"Wait. Are you sure we can go in?"

"Sure we can. I'm his girlfriend. By the way, my name is Laoettia. What about you?"

"I'm Green."

"With envy?" she asked while trying to stop her giggle.

"What?"

Apparently, the joke wasn't understood by the boy, so the girl just said "Don't worry about it."

Both of them went inside and were greeted by a complete mess. The floor was almost unseeable because of all the documents laying around. The house seemed to consist of only 2 rooms, although the one they were took up a lot of space and the ceiling was fairly high. The corner right to the entrance contained a kitchen with stacks of dirty plates and bags full of trash. To the left was a bed with a lamp and multiple towers of science fiction books next to it. In the middle of the room was a desk with a computer and several empty coffee mugs. Opposite side of the entrance, was a peculiar machine which consisted of 2 chambers and a big tube connecting them.

Green stood by the door, careful not to step on anything that could be important, but Laoettia didn't seem to mind and started looking around, making sure that Bill wasn't somewhere on the floor, sleeping in a pile of dirty laundry.

"I'll check the bathroom. You go look if he's not in that machine of his."

Green, still a little reluctant, traversed the room and approached one of the chambers. He grabbed the handle and opened it slowly. It was completely empty. There were some mechanisms on the walls but he still didn't understand what purpose the machine could serve.

He checked the other chamber and after opening it, saw a mysterious creature sleeping in it. It resembled a Jigglypuff but was less round, its eyes were smaller and it had wavy, brown hair. The trainer used Pokedex, but the device showed no results. For a second, Green thought that maybe Bill was involved in some experiment to create a new species of Pokemon.

"He wasn't in the bathroom." he heard Laoettia's voice behind him.

He stood up and turned to her "Do you know what that is?"

"Is that some kind of Pokemon? I know Bill had a couple of them but I never saw one like this. But it looks weirdly similar to him."

"What do you mean?" Green was puzzled by her statement.

"Its hair is similar to Bill's. It's face also reminds me of him."

Suddenly, the creature started moving. It got up to a sitting position and started rubbing its eyes while yawning. Without realizing that its being watched it said "Gee willikers, I didn't realize that a Jigglypuff needs so much sleep."

After hearing a thud, the being looked outside the chamber, realizing finally that the door was open, and saw that Laoettia fell on her bottom, clearly afraid of it.

"It spoke!" she screamed.

"Wait up! It's me!" the creature tried to calm her to no avail.

The girl quickly got up, ran outside and judging by the sound of it, drove away as fast as she could. The monster looked at the entrance to his house with shame. Green remained calm and went over what this could mean in his head. After reaching a conclusion, he squatted next to the creature.

"You are Bill, aren't you?"

It jumped back in surprise. With its gaze focused on Laoettia till now, it didn't notice the other person.

"And who are you?"

"My name is Green. I'm the grandson of Professor Oak."

"Oh! I heard about you. But wait... Before we talk, can you return me to my original form?"

"So I guessed right. You wanted to use this machine to transport a Jigglypuff but somewhat you got stuck inside and the process began, somehow fusing you with the Pokemon."

"As expected of Professor Oak's grandson!"

After a couple whiles, Bill and Jigglypuff got separated. The scientist had to get new clothes and was finally ready to talk with the trainer.

"Thanks for helping me."

"No problem. But... What is the purpose of this machine? You already developed the Pokemon Storage System."

"Yes, I did. But it works only when the Pokemon are enveloped by the field generated inside pokeballs. Thanks to this machine, any Pokemon, any being really, could move location in an instant. Imagine that this machine is placed in every Pokemon Center in the world. Not only will people be able to travel far away in a second, it will also make me rich. I won't make the same mistake again."

"I see. What about your girlfriend?"

Bill got pale from embarrassment "I... It's the third girlfriend I lost this month."

"What?"

"Yeah. A lot of girls start dating me because they expect that I will become rich, but none of them can put up with my lifestyle. I never managed to get a second date. I try to not let that get to me. It doesn't work. I'm immensely sad and lonely. But it's not your fault."

Green was at a loss for words.

"But I have to say that I'm sorry. As you see, I have some things to work out before I can begin making money off this thing so I can't have you staying here and getting in the way of my work."

"I'm sorry?"

"But! You helped me, so I want to show you my gratitude. You can have this and this." when saying that, he held out both of his hands, one with a pokeball, the other with what seemed to be 2 tickets for a cruise.

"A Pokemon?"

"Yes. It would be weird having Jigglypuff here after going through that experience."

"And the tickets?"

"Have you heard about St. Anne? It's a luxury ship that's gonna arrive in Vermillion City in about 2 weeks. They are gonna have a charity auction there. The League officials sent me these tickets and I planned to go there with my girlfriend, but since I don't have a girlfriend anymore..." when talking about this, Bill slowly got sadder, till he laid on the floor with waterfalls of tears pouring out of his eyes.

"Oookay. It was nice to meet you. I have to go now." said Green, before leaving in a hurry.

When the doors closed behind him, he let out a sigh of relief and proceeded to walk back to Cerulean City.

. . .

"Ceruleaaaaan Cityyyyy!" Red shouted out with a big smile on his face and both of his hands lifted up to the sky.

"Why are you yelling?" Blue gave him a look of disapproval while covering her ears.

"I'm excited! I'm pumped! I'm ready to fight!"

"Who are you going to fight?"

"The Gym leader, of course. Who else?"

"It seems you didn't do your research. The Gym leader of Cerulean City is a lot more busy than Brock since this place is closer to the center of Kanto so you can't just expect to get in without making a reservation."

Red dropped both of his hands and looked at Blue with a shocked face "Then what am I gonna do?"

"Don't worry. Let Blue handle everything. I'm going to get reservations for both of us. In the meanwhile, you can go check out Nugget Bridge."

"A what now?"

"Nugget Bridge. I read that it's a place where the trainers from the city gather to have Pokemon fights."

"Where did you read that?"

"On this sign."

Red looked past Blue and to the thing she was pointing at. It was a map of the City which mentioned various places that people might find interesting.

"Okay! Wish me luck!" he said while running away.

She waited a couple seconds before yelling "The other way!"

. . .

Somewhere else, Alex walked, through automatic doors, into a dark room, lit up only by a couple red balls embedded in the floor. There were three desks in the room, each with a comfortable swivel chair behind it. 2 of them were already taken so he sat in the one closest to the entrance, without saying anything.

Since there was still a little time before what they arrived for would happen, he closed his eyes to relax. His fight with Red was still fresh in his mind and the thought of making that teenager a Team Rocket member didn't leave him for a moment.

"We heard about your loss." a female voice declared.

Annoyed, Alex opened his eyes and looked to the right. Behind the middle desk sat a female Team Rocket member, a couple years younger than Alex. She wore the standard uniform used by all the female members, had dark hair arranged in a nice looking bob cut, and would be by most standards considered to be fairly attractive, even though she didn't wear any make-up, since the Team Rocket rules didn't require it and she was the most devoted of all members, to the point where she wouldn't do anything that didn't in some way serve Team Rocket.

If she were to be honest with herself, her hair would definitely be longer and she would probably use make-up, but the first one could get in her way during fights and the second was a waste of money. Her name was Angie, and although Alex didn't put in as much effort as her, he still produced results good enough to become an admin so he got irritated whenever she acted like if she wanted to tell him that she was better.

"You call that a loss, but I call this an investment in the future. You haven't met the trainer I fought. He is the most promising person I ever met. If I was you, I would be careful. If I get him to join Team Rocket, he will take your place in no time." after responding, Alex smiled, confident that his remark would anger Angie.

If the girl wanted to say something, she didn't get the chance.

The third person in the room was Peter, a pale man with long, dark hair and big bags under his eyes. His uniform couldn't be seen beneath the long, grey cape which surrounded his body and which allowed him to wear a hood, even though there was no reason to.

He put down the small carton of orange juice from which he had been drinking through a straw and said "If I were to have my way, you would be hung up naked and lashed for 24 hours for your incompetence. Then I would say that your punishment is over, only to slice open your belly and letting you die."

Alex backed off a little while nervously swallowing saliva.

"That's not in the rules." stated Angie.

They all turned their attention to the screen placed on the wall in front of them, which had just turned on. To Alex's relief and to Angie's disappointment, the one addressing them wasn't their boss. It was one of the scientist who was working on the biggest project Team Rocket was involved in. It has been going on for a couple of years and completing it was their main goal. The admins weren't directly involved in it but they still received regular updates.

"I welcome you all." the man said while bowing his head "I have great news. Codename M2 should be finished in 3 day's time."

Angie contained her excitement, but was screaming from happiness on the inside. Peter's eyes opened wide with shock, after which he gave a slow clap. Alex shouted out "Yes!" while hitting the table with the bottom of his fist.

"Wait up. I was ordered to tell you not to get too excited. Even after it's done, there will be many tests we will have to conduct before it is ready to be used. You are to proceed with carrying out any missions you have been assigned or came up with by yourself and not worry about this whole thing. And nobody who isn't an admin can learn about it. Is that understood?"

Angie stood up and answered "Yes, sir!" while saluting.

Alex also saluted, although without saying anything. Meanwhile, Peter just gave the scientist a thumbs up gesture, much to Angie's chagrin.

"Then, till we can talk again. Farewell." the man said with a smile, and the screen went black.

. . .

Charmander stood his ground while being hit by a small wave of air. It pushed him back a little but didn't hurt him too much. He was ready to counterattack.

"Finish it with Ember!" Red ordered.

The lizard shot out the attack from his mouth and the enemy Pidgey wasn't fast enough to avoid it. The bird fainted and its trainer, a boy couple years younger than Red, returned it to its pokeball. It looked like he was about to begin crying because of his loss, so the teenager reached out with his hand. The opponent did the same with hesitation.

"It was a good fight." said Red "I'm sure that you will become a great trainer. You need to train every day and take good care of your Pidgey. But before that, you should go to heal it up in the Pokemon Center."

The boy nodded and ran towards the city. Red looked at him for a while, until he heard a voice saying "That was a nice fight."

When he turned around, he saw Green sitting on the railing of the bridge, with Ivysaur standing close to him. The trainer from Pallet Town had one of his legs held up by the other and one his hands keeping his head up while itself being place on the knee that was higher in the air. There was a slight hint of a smile on his face. Red analyzed that picture for a short while before saying "Um, who are you?"

Green's hand slipped and he almost fell from surprise.

"It's me! It's Green!"

"Oh, Green! Now I remember. The third color."

"I have literally no idea what you are talking about."

"Doesn't matter. What matters is this guy!" Red announced while pointing at Ivysaur "Your Bulbasaur evolved."

"Oh. Yes, he did." Green said while jumping off the railing.

He went up to Charmander and kneeled down to look at it closer "I see that you managed to tame this one."

"There was no need to tame him. Charmander is a natural fighter. He just needed somebody to give him a target. He helped me win many fights. But also, look at this." after saying that, Red showed him the badge he got from Brock.

"You want to brag?" Green responded while opening his badge case, which apart from the Boulder Badge, contained the Cascade Badge.

"Well..." Red tried to find a good argument as to not feel inferior to Green "...Badges aren't everything. You could win a Gym battle and then lose to a random person."

"I guess. Want to check that out?"

"You think I'm a random person?"

"Not necessarily, but it's only the second time we met. We are at least one meeting away from becoming acquaintances."

"But you want to fight against me?"

"Yes." Green answered while holding up a pokeball in front of his face.

"What about Ivysaur? I thought it would be fun if we both used the Pokemon we got from Professor Oak."

"I've already had him fight a couple people today so he's a little exhausted. Your Charmander too."

Red looked at his Pokemon. Although the lizard took a fighting stance, the trainer could see that his breathing was irregular and there was sweat dripping from his forehead.

"You're right. Come back, buddy." he returned it to its pokeball.

"Besides, I have this new Pokemon and I wanted to test its strength. Go forth, Jigglypuff!"

The pink Pokemon appeared from the flash of light while rolling but it's eyes were closed. After rotating a couple times, it stopped upside down. He woke up, probably because of the blood flowing to its brain and struggled a little to get on its legs, after which it took a serious pose, pretending like the whole thing didn't just happen.

"Is he... Is he alright?" Red asked, being a little embarrassed for Green.

Green blushed a little and responded "It's fine! Don't make us wait!"

"I choose Eevee!"

After being released from its pokeball, the dog was the opposite of Jigglypuff. It landed gracefully, let out a growl to intimidate its opponent and showed off with a nimble backflip. As usual, Red had to pat it on the head before the Pokemon was prepared to fight.

"Are you ready?" Red asked.

"Always." Green responded with a slight smile.

"Quick Attack!"

Eevee run towards it's opponent before Jigglypuff could tell what has happening. As it was hit, it filled its mouth with air, causing it to float up till it was over the rail. The balloon Pokemon landed and looked down on the dog while making an inviting gesture. Eevee wasn't so easily provoked, so instead of directly attacking, it also got up on the railing.

"Quick Attack again!"

"Disable!"

Right before it was about to be hit, Jigglypuff jumped up and a flash of light appeared in its eye. It landed back on the bridge. Eevee stopped and also got down.

"Since a normal Quick Attack doesn't work, we will have to use "that". Quick Attack Version B! Mirror Room!"

To Red's shock, instead of executing the order, his Pokemon looked at him with helplessness in its eyes. Green wasn't so kind as to let them figure out what was happening and commanded "Double Slap!"

The pink Pokemon approached the opponent and began a series of attacks with both of its open hands. Despite the name of the move, it hit the foe 4 times before it stopped and jumped back to a presumably safe distance.

"What was that?!" Red yelled.

He sounded more angry than he wanted to, but couldn't help himself, since this was the first time their signature move was completely stopped before it could even begin.

"Disable allows a Pokemon to block their opponent from using the last move they used before they were affected by it. Even if you came up with a different way of using Quick Attack, it's still essentially the same move. You won't be able to use it for some time. Huh... And here I thought you would give me a good battle."

Red closed his eyes and breathed in to calm himself. He knew that Green wanted to drag him into his pace, but he could still think clear enough to not allow him that.

"We have different ways to beat you." Red said while masterfully feigning confidence.

Besides Quick Attack being unusable, the environment didn't allow for a Sand Attack, limiting his options even more.

"Tackle!"

The attack didn't reach its target. Jigglypuff was already fast enough to avoid a Quick Attack, so Eevee using Tackle seemed to him almost like its opponent was moving in slow motion. It sidestepped with ease and, after receiving the command to use Disarming Voice, let out a shout which created a pink heart shape in the air. This creation hit Eevee, causing him damage, and pushing him away from Jigglypuff.

"Hit him with another Double Slap!"

As Jigglypuff was approaching Eevee, Red clenched both of his fist while looking down, ashamed that there was nothing he could think of to win this fight. He always relied on Eevee's speed so when it was taken away, he felt like a fool for not thinking about alternative ways to achieve victory. His mind was going through multiple thoughts at the same time. Some of it, was trying to come up with a way to win, some was a misguided anger at Green for revealing this weakness to him and some was the feeling of wanting to use quickness in some way.

"Quick Attack... quick... fast... swift..." he said quietly while frantically checking the Pokedex for some clues on how to win.

As he said the name of the disabled attack, information about it appeared on screen. What caught his attention was that the text suddenly changed. It displayed the information of a move called Swift. Seeing as Eevee was a Normal type Pokemon, Red never considered that it could learn an attack that wasn't physical in nature. He looked up with his spirits reignited at the moment Eevee was about to be hit and yelled "Jump!"

Green and Jigglypuff were equally surprised by this. Eevee landed again on the rail. When it saw that Red has regained his confidence, it let out a happy shout. The trainer from Pallet Town was carefully analyzing what his foe could have wanted to do, since he thought the victory was as good as his.

"We won't be needing Tackle to win this fight! Eevee, use Swift!"

Green got scared for a second but breathed out with relief when he saw that the dog was confused by the order. He never used that attack before so it wasn't surprising that he didn't know what to do.

Red scratched his chin, thinking for a couple seconds on how to explain what he wanted before saying "It's like stars which you shoot and they are really fast. I guess the name "Fast Stars" would be better for it... or... Speed Star? That has a nice ring to it."

After hearing about what the move was supposed to be, Eevee gathered energy in his body and opened its mouth to shoot out several starlike projectiles.

"Dodge!" Green commanded.

Jigglypuff used its round shape to roll out of the way, but when he stopped, thinking that he managed to avoid getting hurt, he saw that the stars followed him. Without having to be ordered, he tried to jump out of the way but it turned out to be pointless. Wherever he moved to, he was followed by the attack. And while he was getting tired, the stars were constantly gaining on speed. Finally, he was backed up against the rails and was hit in the face. He yelled out in pain.

"Another one!"

Before Jigglypuff could get up, Eevee jumped towards it and shoot out another Swift. This one was from a much closer distance, so there was no time to even try to get out of the way. After the opponent got hit a second time, the dog landed and started observing it intensely to see if the fight was over. Jigglypuff, fueled by its anger, got up too quickly for Eevee to open its mouth and began trying to use Double Slap. The attack was barely grazing the dog as it swayed to the sides. It did a backflip to gain some distance and suddenly a weird but somehow comforting feeling came over its body. It shouted happily in the direction of its trainer. Both of the teenagers realized what it meant, but Red was quicker to react.

"Quick Attack!"

Eevee ran into Jigglypuff, knocking it a little upwards.

"Mirror Room!"

The dog accelerated like if it was shifting into a higher gear and began attacking from every direction without letting the pink Pokemon hit the bridge. As the circle it was attack in got tighter, its opponent was sent flying upwards.

"Swift!"

Jigglypuff was already 5 meter above the bridge, but after being hit, he flew 2 times as high. Green was sure that even if he didn't already faint, he would if he hit the bridge, so he recalled him back to the pokeball. Eevee looked at him in surprise, but when Red ran over to hug him, he realized what happened. He won and it was the time to celebrate. He growled happily while being patted on the head. Finally, he also went back into his pokeball. Red stood up and faced Green.

"How was that?" he asked with a smug grin.

Green remained calm and answered "I would be very disappointed if you couldn't beat a Pokemon I just got with one you had for a long time."

Red was disappointed by Green's composure when faced with defeat.

"You weren't looking so hot for a second there." Green added.

"I will... You..." Red was too irritated to come up with a good comeback.

Green started walking away towards Cerulean City.

"I said that we won't be acquaintances until we meet a third time. I'm looking forward to that. But even now... you are definitely not a random person. I will... consider you... my rival." after finishing these words, Green sped up his walk.

When he realized that his new rival was just too embarrassed to say that face to face, Red started laughing out loud, not at Green, but from happiness.

* * *

It's me, your friendly neighborhood good-for-nothing. Back with another chapter.

This one had a lot of stuff added. Everything with Bill and Team Rocket wasn't originally planned but after the last chapter having that short bit with Green I wanted to add more of him in this one. Besides, since in my plans Green gets most of his Pokemon "off-screen", it was nice to have him get Jigglypuff with it, instead of just showing up with it.

The same goes for the tickets for St. Anne (I'm somehow used to using that name instead of S. S. Anne). They will of course be important later so it was a good course of things to not have them appear out of nowhere.

When it comes to Jigglypuff, I had a stupid reason for having Green get this Pokemon and decided to keep it, even if the reason was no longer valid because I think it's cool to have a rival with a Pokemon that just seems unrival-like.

It was also a good idea to introduce the other Team Rockets admins earlier, since originally they were supposed to appear one by one and they wouldn't have a lot of interactions. After having Alex act like an asshole, it was my point to make the reader realize that he's the most normal one out of the three of them. Overall, there is a lot of foreshadowing in this chapter, but if you didn't pick some of it up, you don't have to worry because it won't really become apparent until later on.

Since everybody loves statistics(maybe it's just me) I decided to do a little thing I'll place at the end of every chapter which will keep you up with the Pokemon and badges owned by the 6 most important characters. The ? indicates a Pokemon a trainer has in his possesion which hasn't been shown yet. I don't know if you would count that a spoiler, but besides that, there will be nothing else. So, if a Pokemon evolves between chapters it won't be listed here until it appears in the story.

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmander, Pikachu.

Badges: 1

Green. Team: Ivysaur, ?, Jigglypuff.

Badges: 2

Blue. Team: Bellsprout, Squirtle, Zubat.

Badges: 1

Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: ?, ?.

Peter. Team: ?, ?, ?.


	10. 10: My Conquest is a Pool of Stars

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 10: My Conquest is a Pool of Stars.

After another 2 fights on Nugget Bridge, Red still hasn't lost, but his Pokemon were too worn out to continue, so he decided to visit the Pokemon Center, expecting to meet there Blue.

Although there were many people residing in the lobby, his travelling companion wasn't one of them. He left the Pokemon with the nurse, so she could heal them, while he wondered for a couple seconds what to do with himself, since he didn't have anyone to talk with.

On the way to the cafeteria he passed by the communication machines and remembered something important. He searched his pockets for a phone number and used the device to call the Pewter City Pokemon Gym. Soon, the receptionist who Red met when visiting that place, answered the phone and his face appeared on the screen. He immediately recognized the teenager and told him to wait a little while he would contact Brock. Soon, the receptionist left the seat and, from what Red heard, the room. Instead, the Gym leader arrived in his place.

"Hi, Brock."

"Hello, Red. Since you are calling me, you are probably wondering if I found out anything about Team Rocket?"

"Well..." Red hesitated, since he was previously ordered not to get involved with the criminals "That's half true. I also learned something about them."

Brock gave him a suspicious look "What do you mean?"

"I accidentally ran into them in Mt. Moon..."

"And by that, he means he search for them to get a confrontation." these words came from Blue who suddenly appeared behind Red, startling him enough to jump a little in the seat.

Brock squeezed the upper part of his nose and remained silent for a couple seconds before saying "Ok. I should have known I couldn't have stopped you. Not with that attitude you have. What did you learn?"

"I made a deal with them and since I beat most of them, the guy who was in charge of this group told me about their connection to the Gym in Viridian. That place used to serve them as scouting grounds for new members, since that mysterious Gym leader is also the boss of Team Rocket. But the guy seemed confused why somebody was protecting that place, since they abandoned it some time ago."

Brock tried to connect the dots in his head "That seems to line up with what I learned. I used my authority as a Gym leader to have the police check that place out. They met a couple Team Rocket members there, but since the policemen were more numerous, the Team Rocket members ran away. The only thing they found in the Gym were various documents. It's the only Gym I heard about that kept files on all the trainers who fought against the Gym leader. But this... This makes sense. He created the Gym to test potential Team Rocket members. I will have to contact the other Gym Leaders right away..."

"Wait!" Red yelled.

"What is it?"

"Could you wait like a day or two?"

"Why is that?"

"I want to fight the Cerulean City Gym leader and if you call her, she may become too busy."

"I'm sorry Red, but you know that this could be very important. I can't give you that much time."

"You don't have to." Blue said.

Red looked at her with a confused look "What do you mean?"

She held out her hand, and in it was the same badge that he earlier saw in Green's possession.

"I lied about the reservations so I could get this before you. Sorry."

"Gah!" Red fell from the chair in shock.

"But that means that you can go fight her right away." the girl tried to calm him.

Red quickly got up and looked at Brock "How about it? Give me just an hour or 2."

"Okay. I can do that." the leader answered "Good luck with your fight."

"Goodbye."

"Goodbye."

Red arrived at the nurse's counter after hearing that his Pokemon have been healed and immediately started to walk towards the doors, but when Blue didn't follow him, he turned around in surprise.

"Are you not coming?"

"I have to heal my Pokemon. Besides, I'm rather tired by the fight. You go on your own. We'll meet here later."

"Hmm... Okay. See ya."

. . .

The Cerulean City Pokemon Gym had a blue roof and was located in the middle of a big park. It was elevated a little and Red had to walk up a couple steps to get to the doors. On both sides of the stairs, there were 3 small fountains. This made the boy wonder if each Gym leader was in charge of the placement of their Gym and how it looked from the outside.

As soon as he entered, he recognized that he was in a lobby very similar to the one in Pewter City's Gym. The difference was that this room also had a small fountain, and that the receptionist was a young woman in a sleeveless shirt, and with her hair in a ponytail. She was chewing gum and seemed occupied with something on her computer. She gave Red a quick glance but didn't say anything.

"I'm here to challenge the Gym leader."

The woman remained silent for a long while, still chewing her gum, inflating it to the point that it popped and then chewing eat again. She was holding up her head with one hand while using the other to move and click the mouse rapidly. After some time she stopped with a disappointed look.

"Uh... I'm here to challen..."

"I heard you! Damn it, I lost my game! What do you want from me?! She's in there! Just go in!"

"Okay, okay." Red held up his hands, showing that he meant no harm as he slowly walked backwards towards the doors leading to the next room.

Unlike the Pewter City Gym, there was no corridor so after passing through the automatic doors, he arrived in the place where the battles were supposed to happen. The room seemed bigger than the one at Brock's Gym. There were two platforms for the trainers on the opposing ends, while most of the space was taken up by a big pool. There were 5 platforms floating on top of the water.

Red looked up and saw that although there were no balcony's for spectators, the Gym had roof windows which allowed sunlight to get in. It was bright enough that no artificial lights were needed.

Red arrived on his platform and began thinking about what tactic to use, since he assumed that the Gym leader would be a water type user. Suddenly, something moved in the water. Red didn't notice it before since it was below one of the platforms. It swam in his direction with incredible speed. He jumped back and fell on his buttocks when the thing reached out from the water in his direction.

He was amazed to find out that it was a human hand, which helped the rest of the body get out of the pool after grabbing onto the platform. It was a girl with a slender build and around his age, wearing a navy bikini bottom and top which was like band wrapping around hear breasts and holding them in place. Red's face turned red as he instantly stood up and started backing off.

"I'm sorry! I arrived at the wrong time! I'm gonna go now!" he said as he turned towards the doors.

"No, wait!" the girl stopped him and grabbed onto his hand "It's okay. This is a Gym, but it's also my private pool so when I don't fight I like to relax here. That means that I'm often in my swimsuit. But that won't stop me from taking on your challenge. That's why you came here, right?"

"Uh... Yeah."

"My name is Misty. What about you?"

"I'm Red."

"I can see that, but what's your name?"

"No. I..." Red managed to escape her grasp and turned around, realizing that her comment was about his blushing face "...My name is Red."

"Oh. That's interesting. I fought two other trainers who were also named after colors, yesterday and today."

"That's..." he wanted to explain that he knew them but decided that he would just be wasting the time that Brock gave him "...Yeah. Interesting. So, what is the battle gonna be like?"

"How many badges do you have?"

"One."

"The I will be using 2 Pokemon in this battle. And you..."

"I will also be using 2."

She blinked a couple times in surprise "Huh. That Green guy said the same thing. Although he needed only 1 in the end... Okay, let's get to our platforms."

After arriving at their respective spots, Red grabbed onto one of his pokeballs, after deciding what order he would use for this battle.

"Go, Eevee!" as he threw the ball, he made sure that it would hit one of the 5 platforms.

The Pokemon wanted to run to its trainer to be patted on the head but stopped immediately after realizing he was surrounded by water. He guessed that he could make the jumps between platforms but didn't want to risk falling into the pool before the battle even begun.

"I have to warn you. Your Pokemon is already in a losing position." the leader declared.

Red thought that she was just trying to provoke him, but when she didn't call out her own Pokemon for quite some time, he began to feel that something wasn't right.

Suddenly, his worries turned out to be justified, as from under the surface of the water, shot out something that looked like a star. Before Red or his Pokemon could understand what was happening, Eevee was hit in the face and knocked upwards, while the starlike entity continued spinning while flying through the room before going back underwater, without giving Red a chance to get a good look at it.

Fortunately, Eevee landed on all fours on one of the other platforms. Red quickly pulled out the Pokedex to see that the thing they were facing up against was a Staryu.

As Red had guessed, it was a water type. The thing that amazed him was the blinding speed of the Pokemon. It clearly outclassed Eevee's, and since the speed was the dog's strongest attribute, Red was worried about what would happen if he fell in the water, since that would make him even slower.

Eevee looked back at its trainer and saw the hand gesture that meant that he had to wait patiently while observing his surroundings. Staryu attacked again. It appeared out of Eevee's blind spot and hit him in the back of the head. The dog tried to stop himself from flying off the platform but as it began to tip, he had to jump to another one to avoid falling in the water. The one he was on previously was splashed backwards and hit the edge of the pool. It was too far from the other ones to ever get back on it again.

A normal trainer would have seen it as losing 20 percent of their field but Red was thinking about how this could be to his advantage. He observed the surface of the water when Staryu attacked the third time and Eevee had to jump to yet another platform, and he realized that thanks to the platforms being more spaced out, he could notice hints of Staryu's movements below the surface. When the fourth attack was about to happen, the trainer yelled out "Swift to the left!"

Misty stepped back in shock when she saw that Staryu's attack was stopped by a group of smaller stars hitting him one after another. The water Pokemon was knocked back into the pool and the leader started thinking of another way to continue attacking, since the usual one wouldn't work anymore.

"Water Pulse!"

Staryu began shooting out pulses of energy which created ripples on the surface of the water. The attack reached the platform Eevee was on. Although at first Red was happy that the other ones were knocked away, they would have come in really handy in that moment.

Eevee had nowhere to escape, so when he and the platform he was standing on were sent into the air, he couldn't land anywhere else than in the water. This put right in Staryu's domain. The dog tried to escape by swimming up but when another Water Pulse hit him, he began spinning uncontrollably and finally hit the wall of the pool on Misty's side of the room.

"Rapid Spin!"

Staryu started approaching Eevee with astonishing speed. Red was unable to come up with any order that would save the dog from the oncoming attack, so his Pokemon had to rely on its instincts and after waiting for the right moment, bit in Staryu's direction, managing to sink its teeth in one of the arms of the starlike Pokemon.

Apart from spinning, Staryu didn't have a big range of motions, so what it decided to do, after being stopped in its tracks, was to spin in the other direction. Eevee was dragged under the water, hitting the floor of the pool several times as Staryu made an arch which ended with both of them emerging from water and Eevee being sent flying.

"Swift!"

The dog opened its eyes, which showed that he was on his last reserves of energy and shoot out a barrage of stars which hit the Staryu with such a force that they sent him into the floor of the pool. Eevee came up with an unique idea to use Quick Attack while touching the water and managed to take 2 steps before crashing into one of the platforms and grabbing onto it as to not fall off again.

Something began forming in Red's head. The sight of Eevee saving himself in this way could lead to a new strategy. But it was too late. Staryu quickly recuperated and after receiving a command from Misty, used Tackle to knock over the platform the dog Pokemon was on. It used Rapid Spin again, this time making sure that Eevee would be sent in Red's direction. The normal Pokemon landed right in its trainer's hands, already unconscious.

"You did well, buddy." Red praised his Pokemon even though the dog couldn't hear it.

Staryu shot out of the water and, after taking a trip through the room, landed next to Misty. She patted the Pokemon on the back to congratulate him, then looked at Red with a confident smile "Are you sure you don't want to use more than 2 Pokemon? Many people think that if they just use a grass type, or something fast or strong, they can win easily. But the rules of water battles are completely different. This pool is our territory. Our rule is absolute. That Green guy was rather smart and the Blue girl took on us by using a water Pokemon of her own. I wonder if you have anything up your sleeve."

Misty couldn't have known that her words helped Red figure out what was missing from his tactic. As the plan formed in his head, he was staring forward with a cocky smirk. The girl backed off, creeped out a little. She even began to blush, thinking that Red wanted to intimidate her by staring at her body, but he was thinking about an altogether another female body.

. . .

About 2 weeks earlier, Red and Blue stopped on their way to because the girl complained about being tired. They were fortunate enough to be close to one of the resting spots for trainers. As Red reached into his backpack to get out some berries, he noticed with the corner of his eye that Blue was adjusting her socks. Since they were tight at the end, and loose in the middle, that meant that she could pull them up higher, all the way up to her knees.

"Maybe I should buy thigh high ones..." she muttered with a worried voice.

"What are you talking about?"

"These socks! My Zettai ryōiki range in these is from grade E to C. I think I would look better with B or even A. You would also probably prefer that."

"Zet-wha? Grades? I have no idea what you're talking about." Red answered with a very confused face.

"Look at this." she said while moving her hand over the parts of her legs not covered by clothes "This is Zettai ryōiki. It means "absolute territory". It's the space between socks and a skirt. It's the pathway to a promised land that every man wants to walk on."

"I... I'm not sure I follow. What about the grades?"

"The grades depend on how much of this space exists. The longer the socks, the higher the grade. Of course people have different preferences but I feel like more often than not, they prefer longer socks and a smaller Zettai ryōiki. Especially males." after the last words, she gave him a piercing stare.

"That's... That's absurd! You think you can influence someone with something like the length of your socks?!" Red protested.

"Let's put it to the test then." she said with a confident smile, while pulling her socks down to their usual length "Can I have a berry?"

"Uh... Sure. I don't know what's that gonna prove..." he said while placing one of the berries on the bench she was sitting on.

"Okay. Now..." Blue pulled up the socks to her knees while giving Red a quick look.

He felt something cold run through his spine, but something hot swirling in his chest, while his belly felt like an electrifying hurricane, all at the same time.

"...Can I have a berry?"

"How... How many?" Red said unconsciously, mesmerized by what was presented to him.

In a short moment he came to his senses and looked at Blue with a terrified face.

"You see? Absolute territory is a dangerous weapon, yet it can be controlled. The smaller the territory, the bigger your advantage. Although, I don't think this would ever be useful to a guy... Unless you wanna try wearing my clothes?"

"I don't!" he yelled with his face red like a tomato.

. . .

"The smaller the territory, the bigger my advantage" Red said to himself.

Misty looked at him with concern since he was quiet for almost a minute.

"What's the ruling on giving our Pokemon berries during the fight?" the boy asked.

"Uh... Any berry that doesn't restore Pokemon's strength is fine. But, you didn't call out your second Pokemon yet. Is it already poisoned or something? Or is it just hungry? I don't..."

"And is there a limit to how many I can use?"

"I... I guess no."

"Okay. That's what I needed to know. Now, it's your time, Pikachu!"

The electric Pokemon appeared on the only platform that was still kind of in the center of the pool.

"And now..." Red took on a stance similar to a baseball pitcher "...it's time to raise the grade!"

Red threw one of his berries into the pool, close to Misty. The girl looked at it with confusion, while the boy continued to throw even more berries. Finally, around 30 of them were scattered all around the pool.

"I don't understand what you are trying to do but that won't stop me. Rapid Spin!"

"Quick Attack!"

As soon as Red gave his command, Misty realized what his plan was. It was something she couldn't have ever come up with since it was a tactic not suitable for water Pokemon. Pikachu used the berries as stepping stones during his run. He touched them for such a short time, that they were barely affected by his weight, but still were necessary to allow him to approach the enemy. Pikachu adjusted his path as to not hit Staryu head-on.

"Iron Tail!"

As the mouse was passing its opponent, his tail turned to steel and he delivered a crushing blow. Adding Staryu's speed, caused the attack to be even more effective, and the water Pokemon was knocked straight up. Misty called it back right before it would crush into the roof windows.

"What the hell was that?!" she yelled.

"Well... I made sure that everything I did was according to the rules."

"That's not what I mean! If you have a Pikachu, why didn't you order it to use an electric attack?!"

"Oh... You were just going on about how this is your territory and your rule was absolute. Let's just say I wanted to show you that I could "absolutely" conquer it." he said with a smile, that just led the leader to anger.

"I see..." she gritted her teeth "...Since you won't be using electric attacks and I already know about your tactic, I can leave everything to this one. Go, my steady!"

From Misty's pokeball emerged a Pokemon similar to Staryu, but purple, bigger and with more arms. Red checked the Pokedex to learn that it was a Starmie. The Pokemon jumped into the water, after being commanded. This way, Pikachu couldn't use Quick Attack to reach it.

"But... Since I already conquered your territory, I don't need to prove anything more. Pikachu, use Thunder Shock!"

Before Misty could do anything, the attack was already happening. After electricity reached the water, there was nowhere for Starmie to escape. Pikachu continued without stopping for about half a minute, finally stopping to look in the water. Starmie was laying unconscious on the bottom of the pool. The leader recalled her Pokemon and started making her way towards the challengers platform. Meanwhile, Pikachu used the berries to arrive next to Red, grabbing the last one on his way, to begin eating it when at his trainer's foot.

"Congratulations on your victory. The Cascade badge is yours. I have to say that you were the most surprising opponent I had to face in a long time. I will have to rethink some things about my tactics in case someone comes up with something like this again. By the way, how did you arrive at this idea?"

Red looked at her with a blank stare. An image of Blue's legs formed in his head and he began to blush uncontrollably "I... My friend came up with it."

"Oh. Is that so? Anyway, I wish you luck on your journey. There are still 5 badges you have to get."

"Or 6." Red said while adjusting his hat.

"What do you mean?"

"Brock will call you soon and explain everything."

. . .

On their way to Pokemon Center, Pikachu played around with the new badge. Red was wondering if he should thank Blue for giving him that tactic, but quickly dismissed that thought, when he realized that it would be too embarrassing to explain it. After arriving at the Pokemon Center, he started looking around but Blue was nowhere to be found again. The nurse noticed him wandering through the place and called him over.

"Oh. I have to heal Eevee." he remembered and went over to the counter "Hi. It's me again. Could you take care of my buddy?"

"Uh... Yes, of course. But before that, there is a note for you."

"A note? From who?"

"From your female friend. The girl with the white hat."

"But why would she leave a note?"

"Oh... You didn't know? She said that she has to leave Cerulean City and she did, about an hour ago." the nurse looked worried, and somehow ashamed that she was the one that had to deliver these news.

Red was just standing there, too shocked to even look at the note he received.

* * *

This was certainly something. A lot of undertones. This chapter will somehow probably backfire seeing how it's the one showing my weebish nature the most.

I never actually watched Evangelion, although I have it in my plans. I did read the manga. It was cool but there was a lot of stuff I didn't care for. Apart from that, this chapter is probably most influenced by Flip Flappers which I've been watching last week.

Hmmm... After having Red using that tactic, I didn't have a plan for what Misty's counterattack could be, so I just kinda ended it in a silly way. In the games Pikachu wouldn't beat a Starmie so easily, but a lot of what Red does couldn't happen in the games.

I don't know what was my original intention behind splitting up the dynamic duo, but I came up with some kind of new reason. This will also lead to a fated meeting very soon. Probably not next week. I have a lot of stuff to do. So the next chapter will proably appear in like 2 weeks or something.

For anyone who doesn't get the title it's a pun on My Conquest is the Sea of Stars which is a movie serving as a prologue to the classic anime Legend of the Galactic Heroes. I just reached the moment where it seems like everybody is gonna die and I'm consantly on the edge of my seat. I wonder if the new version is also good. Anyway, here are the updated statistics for the major characters.

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmander, Pikachu.

Badges: 2

Green. Team: Ivysaur, ?, Jigglypuff.

Badges: 2

Blue. Team: Bellsprout, Squirtle, Zubat.

Badges: 2

Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: ?, ?.

Peter. Team: ?, ?, ?.


	11. 11: Greed

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 11: Greed.

After taking a couple minutes to come to his senses, Red got to a sofa and plopped down before looking at the note given to him by the nurse. He was worried if he it was something he did that caused Blue to leave but managed to get through his fear and started reading. The note read as follows "Hi, Red. It's me, Blue. But you already know this from the nurse. I..."

In that place and some other ones there were words that were crossed out. Although some of them still were readable, Red decided to omit them to get a clear message of what Blue wanted to tell him.

He continued reading the note "I know it's rude of me to do it this way but I just couldn't gather up the courage to say this to your face. Maybe I'm just being silly. What do you think? Maybe it wouldn't matter to you. But I can't pretend that it doesn't bother me. It's not your fault. I want to say that it isn't my fault either but since I was the one that saw this as an issue, I guess I'm at fault here."

The boy took a while to think about what the girl could have meant but still wasn't clear on what kind of message Blue was trying to get across, so he continued reading.

"Did you ever think about what would happen if we haven't met? I never would eat your cooking. I would get up late because you wouldn't be there to wake me up. On the other hand, you would get constantly lost. You would make even more rash decisions. We both have our flaws and in some crazy way, the life put the two of us together like it knew that we would compliment each other and together behave like one competent person. I can't have that. I like spending time with you, but my goal is to become a Pokemon Master. I could reach that with your help. But that wouldn't be fair. I wouldn't feel worthy of it if I knew that it wasn't by my own strength that I did it. There are some other things. If we are to fight in the league, I don't want to see all of your Pokemon and their tricks and for you to see mine, because that would make the fight too boring. I guess? And... Team Rocket. Although I helped you against them that one time, I can't afford to lose my dream by getting tangled up with criminals. That's all I had to say, I think. I hope you don't get this note the wrong way. I don't want to travel with you anymore but I had a great time with you and I really want to see you again as many times as possible."

The last couple of words were completely crossed out to the point of being covered by a black stripe.

Red felt a tear that was about to fall out of his right eye so he put a finger up to it, so that it wouldn't run down his face. He smiled, happy that he and Blue still remained good friends, but then he slowly got up, crumpled the note and, after reaching upwards with both of his arms, yelled out "Blueeeee! You won't get rid of me that easily! The next time we meet I'm gonna make you travel with me again! Till then, I wish you good luuuuuck!"

Blue, who was on Route 5, on her way to Vermillion City, felt shivers run through her entire buddy. Shocked by this, she grabbed her chest to calm herself down. She looked back towards Cerulean City which had almost disappeared behind the horizon, as if she was hoping that she would see Red coming after her to stop her from going through with this decision. But he wasn't there, so she continued walking forward.

"Um... Could you be quieter? You are disturbing other guest." the nurse said to Red.

After seeing that everybody in Pokemon Center was looking at him, his face turned Red and he sat down before saying a quiet "Sorry."

. . .

A couple days later, the Team Rocket admins gathered again in the same room as always. Since he wasn't on any mission it was a given that Alex arrived before anyone else.

Peter often was late to their meetings. When Alex asked him once for the reason, the long-haired man explained that it was hard to move around with his cape because, if he was too fast, he would trip.

On the other hand, Angie was always on time. She wouldn't want to waste the time she could use for other duties by sitting and waiting for a transmission.

But that day was certainly a special one. Realizing the creation of Codename M2 was the goal of their organization for the longest time. When Angie entered the room, she did her best to hide her feelings as always, but Alex still noticed that the corners of her mouth were rising by themselves into a smile that terrified him, since it was so unusual to see her with one. But it was easy to understand that of the three of them she was the one most looking forward to this day. After all, she was a member of Team Rocket since her childhood, whereas Alex and Peter joined only a couple years ago. Peter arrived just as the screen lit up.

"Welcome everybody." said the same scientist they saw 3 days ago "I see that you all can't contain your excitement."

Alex looked at the others with a doubtful look. Even though Peter cared about this project atleast as much as him, he didn't show any signs of it. He even covered his mouth to stop the yawn coming from his mouth. This irritated Alex to the point that he decided to keep his eyes glued to the screen.

"The wait is over. As promised, we managed to finish working on Codename M2 on time. It took us many years but finally we have arrived at this point. But it's not my place to talk about it. I will let Doctor Humane talk you through it, since he was in charge of the project."

"Good day, admins of Team Rocket." a voice could be heard from somewhere offscreen.

It seemed like the communication device was placed in a specific place and they didn't want to move it because it could end up not being placed back in the same exact way it was at that time.

"I'm sorry that you can't see me right now but I'm in the control room that operates this whole place. What you can see instead is a metal hatch placed in the floor. If I press the right buttons and switches, the hatch will open and the container with M2 will rise up to the surface."

"Excuse me." very slowly said Peter.

"Yes?" answered Doctor Humane.

"You are about to show us the thing we all want to see, but what about our boss? If he was watching it, the screen would be split and we would be able to see him, right?"

Alex was shocked that Peter was the one to point out such a fact, seeing how normally his attention span lasted about half a second. On the other hand, Angie slapped both of her cheeks, ashamed that she wasn't the one to notice it.

"Don't worry." Doctor Humane calmed them down "Actually, our work on M2 has been finished since 2 days ago but we wanted to keep it under wraps so the boss could come here and inspect what we achieved by himself. He saw it yesterday. But beside him and the scientists who worked on the project, you will be the first ones to see what it looks like."

"Oh... Then go ahead." said Peter.

"Alright. Here goes."

After a couple quiet sounds, which were probably Doctor Humane operating the machinery, the hatch began to open and a stream of cold air began escaping from inside. The container in which M2 resided was a tube which was over 2 meters high. It contained various electronics on top and bottom and was covered by ice in some places. The inside couldn't be seen because the cold caused the glass to become foggy.

The scientist from before returned with a winter coat and gloves on his body and used his hands to clean the front of the container, finally revealing what was inside. Alex and Angie both stood up with excited faces. Peter couldn't be bothered but his eyes which were usually half closed due to him being sleepy, were now fully open as he looked on with admiration for the being that stood in front of them. I was a tall being with a tail and two horns. They couldn't tell what color it was because of the green fluid it was sleeping inside.

"Project M2" Doctor Humane began speaking again "or how I like to call him, "Mewtwo" is as you know an attempt of copying the unique Pokemon known as Mew, in order to create a perfect being. A lot of our work was taken up by trying to create it from nothing, until we managed to get a sample of Mew's DNA. Even then, it took a couple years before we realized a way to deal with the instable nature of its body. It turned out that the thing we were missing was in us all along. Mewtwo is a combination of the DNA of three beings; Mew, myself and our boss. We went through a limited test yesterday and checked its brainwaves, finding out that they are more similar to human ones than those found in Pokemon. We want this Pokemon to walk among us as an equal and hope to convince him to our cause of uniting the world under the rule of Team Rocket. If we will be able to go into the stage of mass production, a small group of Mewtwo will be enough to stop any armed conflict or help people during natural disasters. I have to say, I have never been so proud as during these last couple..."

His speech was interrupted by a loud sound of something being smashed. Flashes of light appeared from somewhere offscreen.

"What the hell are you doing?!" the voice of Doctor Humane could be heard.

"We won't allow Team Rocket to control the world! Without this thing you won't be a threat! Our darkness will envelop Kanto and you can't do nothing about..." an unknown voice started shouting somewhere but went quiet after a punching sound.

"What happened?!" Alex yelled.

"It was a member of Darkness Gang!" explained Doctor Humane "He disguised as one of my assistants and used a wrench to smash the machinery I was using to contain Mewtwo! I'll try to do something before..."

"Look!" Peter stood up, causing his hood to fall off, as he pointed towards the face of the artificial Pokemon.

"Oh no. No, no, no, no!" despair could be heard in Doctor Humane's words.

Mewtwo opened its eyes.

"What... What is it gonna do?" Angie asked with a cracking voice.

They all stood there trembling with uneasiness, only being able to imagine what the people on the other side of the screen felt like.

"It's... It's speaking." said Doctor Humane.

"What? I don't hear anything." Alex grabbed onto his ears as if he wanted to make sure that there was nothing wrong with them.

"It's using telepathy..." continued the Doctor "...and it's not happy that it's trapped... Wait! You got it wrong! You aren't trapped!"

The only things the admins could see was a split second flash of explosion. The sound couldn't reach them because the communication machine of the other party was obliterated in an instant. Their screen turned into a fuzzy mess of pixels and they stared at it for the next couple seconds, their brains not being capable of understanding what happened.

"Oh no! Did it break out?!" Alex yelled "Are they fine?! We have to do something!"

"I... I..." Peter couldn't find any right words.

"Calm down!" Angie ordered them, even though she herself was covered by sweat originating from anxiety "First things first! We have to call the boss! I'll do it! Meanwhile, Alex!"

"Yes?!"

"Run over to the intercom room and be ready to relay the information to the whole base in case it's needed!"

"Roger!" he quickly saluted before running out the door.

"And you, Peter!"

"What is it?"

"Go to the hangar in case the boss orders us to send a party there, since this base is closer than the one in Saffron!"

"Got it!" he answered before pulling up his cape, which was supposed to allow him easier movement.

Angie began using an input device located on the whole to connect with the boss. After a short while the screen turned on. Before Angie could turn around to see his face, she already heard his hard, cold voice saying "Yes? What is it?"

. . .

While Team Rocket were dealing with their problem, Red encountered a completely different conundrum on his way to Vermilion City. He stood there watching a rather poor excuse for a battle, as a wild Meowth was putting all his strength into trying to pull a out an Oddish which has planted itself into the middle of the path the boy was travelling on.

The trainer squatted down to watch the situation up-close, while the cat Pokemon was too preoccupied with what it was doing to notice the new company. Eevee was out of his pokeball and also couldn't take his eyes away from what was happening. It looked to him like some kind of game, and when the Meowth's paws finally slipped and he fell on the ground, the dog ran up and decided to give a try by pulling on Oddish's leaves with its teeth. He was successful, but the weight of the grass Pokemon caused them both to fall on the cat. When Meowth's and Oddish's eyes met, the both of them quickly got up and assumed fighting stances.

"Oh boy. Eevee, can you try to stop them?"

The dog ran between them and started barking at both sides of the conflict. The Pokemon waited for him to stop and they both gave some kind of answers. But they kept interrupting each other and getting even more agitated, which finally led to them starting a fight, despite Eevee being in the middle of it. The dog managed to jump to safety and ran over to its trainer where it frantically tried to relay the situation to him.

"I... You know that I can't understand what you're saying, right?" Red asked with a worried expression "Maybe you can show me instead?"

Eevee thought about it for a bit and finally came up with an idea of how to convey the message. He pointed to one of Red's pokeballs, so the trainer proceeded to release Charmander who was apparently needed in this presentation.

The dog said something to the lizard who nodded in response. Then, Eevee pointed again, this time to Red's bag. The trainer took out one of the berries they were supposed to eat for lunch and seeing what the Pokemon wanted him to do, he placed it next to a bush on the side of the road, which in his understanding was supposed to imitate that the berry was in fact growing on said bush. Everything was set in place for the presentation.

The Pokemon began their cute, amusing play with Charmander pretending that he was a wild Oddish. He was holding up two long leaves he found to indicate that he was playing the role of the grass Pokemon. He walked around for a while, pretending to search for something. Finally, he walked over to the bush where the berry was laying and picked it up with a triumphant shout. Then, he started looking around, as if he wanted to check that no one saw what he was doing.

After that, he dug a small hole and placed the berry inside and walked over to a patch of grass where he laid down and closed his eyes. He moved his tail in a slow arc, indicating the passage of time and setting of the sun, until the flame was hidden behind a tree, seemingly telling Red that it was night.

Then, Eevee who to Red's understanding was imitating the Meowth by making a catlike face, walked onto the scene and also acted like he was searching for berries. But to his disappointment, he couldn't find any on the bushes or trees. He was about to give up, but he stumbled onto the hole in which the berry, found earlier by Charmander/Oddish, was hidden. He didn't know why the berry would be in a hole but he didn't care since he needed food to survive. He took the berry to his lair and ate half of it, after which he left the rest for the morning and also went to sleep.

When Charmander/Oddish woke up and found out that the food he was hoping to eat for breakfast disappeared, he followed the footprints left by the thief and followed them to his berry which was already half eaten. He wanted to give the sleeping Eevee/Meowth a pummeling, but he was too hungry. He decided to eat what was left of the berry before attacking the thief. But the sounds of chomping, woke up the sleeping one. They started fighting and when Oddish was badly scratched he decided to regain some of his strength by planting itself in the ground and using some kind of healing move. That was at least what Red got out of that explanation.

"Okay. I think I understand." he said and turned his head towards the fight that was taking place behind him.

Both of the Pokemon were almost out of strength and they movements have gotten slower.

"Charmander. You're up."

Answering the command, the lizard ran in between the fighters and used his tail to knock both of them down to the ground. They didn't have enough energy to get up but were still arguing verbally.

"Okay, guys. Enough is enough!" the boy yelled "It isn't worth it to fight over a misunderstanding. If you promise to forgive each other, I will give each of you a berry and you can go on your way. How about that?"

The Pokemon gave it some though and both said something to which Charmander nodded his head. The trainer understood and reached into his bag to give them Oran berries. Both of the got 1 berry and began eating it. After regaining their strength, they looked at Red with hopeful eyes.

"First you have to say that you're sorry to the other Pokemon."

They turned face to face and said something with happy faces, after which Meowth shook one of Oddish's leaves like a hand. After seeing that, Red gave both of them some more regular berries. Oddish immediately began eating another one, while Meowth was just looking at the ones he got. He sometimes glanced to what the other one was doing. Finally, he open his mouth and somehow managed to fit all his berries inside and then jumped over to Oddish and used his paws to steal 2 other berries before quickly running away.

"Aaand... There he's gone. I guess it's weird to expect a wild Pokemon to learn a lesson in sharing. Well, it was worth a try."

He stood up and turned around to pick up his bag, before returning Charmander to his pokeball.

"We wasted enough time. We'll never catch up to Blue if we dilly-dally."

Red and Eevee were about to be on their way when the trainer felt something tugging on his leg. He looked down and saw that the Oddish still hasn't left.

"I'm sorry. I just can't go giving out all my berries or we'll have nothing to eat. Unless... you wanna come along?"

The Oddish stood there for some time. The boy thought that the Pokemon was going over the proposition, but then Eevee walked closer to Oddish and looked up to say something to his trainer. The teenager crouched and saw that the grass Pokemon somehow managed to fall asleep while standing.

"I guess he was still tired... Aren't sleeping Pokemon easier to catch?"

Red put one of his empty pokeballs up to Oddish's forehead and the Pokemon went in without a problem, with the sphere immediately giving out the sound that signified the capture.

"Hmm... That was kinda uneventful."

* * *

That was a joke. These last words, I mean. Since the chapter didn't really have any real fighting but a lot of stuff still happened. Blue left Red, Mewtwo finally appeared and escaped at the same time, Red caught Oddish. Yeah, a lot of stuff.

Since each part was equally important, I had a little trouble coming up with the name of the chapter. The way I came up with it was by going off the phrase "Strongest Pokemon in The World" which I think will be a chapter name down the line. Because of that, I remembered the character of Rudol von Stroheim from Battle Tendency, the second part of Jojo's Bizarre Adventure. I saw that he was based on the real life person, Erich von Stroheim who worked in the movie industry. The wikipedia article mentioned a movie called "Greed" as seemingly his best work. The guy, by the way, looks really scary. When I thought of "Greed" I realized that to some extent it could apply to all the parts of this story. Red is greedy in that he wants Blue by his side, no matter her reasons for leaving him. Team Rocket are greedy in that they want to rule the world. You can't really get greedier than that. And Meowth is greedy in the way he wanted all the berries he could get instead of just the one he got from Red's good will.

In the original version, the whole Mewtwo part wasn't there and the berry part was supposed to feature groups of Oddish and Meowth instead of just single Pokemon.

Also, Darkness Gang! They weren't in the original plans for any chapter, but since then I came up with 2 stories that would need villains other than Team Rocket so I decided to make a secondary evil organization. They won't be a part of the main conflict but they will pop up quite soon to cause some trouble so I went and introduced them here.

Also, I hope that nobody takes Blue's letter the wrong way. It's not like some kind of feminist move or something to have her state that she wants to be worthy of winning the Pokemon League. She was sure of her goal from the beginning of her journey and after travelling with Red for some time, she started to feel like she was getting too comfortable just being with him, even though she still got her badges just fine. It's not like an inferiority complex or anything. All of the things she thinks about herself, she thinks about Red. So she's doing this for both of them, thinking that if they go their own way, they will have a better chance to get stronger. The Team Rocket stuff still applies, but she's still seeing Red as her friend and while she would not willingly go out to search for criminal activities, she would help him if he had any trouble. I don't know if this explanation makes a lot of sense. I tried. Don't hate me, lol.

Next chapter, Red arrives in Vermilion. Also, a fateful encounter between 2 characters. After that, there will be one more chapter(I think), before we get into what I would call the Special Chapter. But maybe I'll write about it next time. Last thing is my problem with titles. The last chapter title was so long that I had a problem and had to shorten Chapter to Chapt(?!) but that seems ugly so from now on I will do it like in this one, In case there are any more long titles. But I won't go back to change all the previous one, since it could skew the statistics. EDIT: I did go back and change it so this past probably makes sense to anyone who reads it after the change.

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmander, Pikachu, Oddish.

Badges: 2

Green. Team: Ivysaur, ?, Jigglypuff, ?.

Badges: 2

Blue. Team: Bellsprout, Squirtle, Zubat.

Badges: 2

Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: ?, ?.

Peter. Team: ?, ?, ?.


	12. 12: Vermilion City Blues

Advice: Play Type: Wild during the appropriate part of this chapter for possible increase in enjoyment. You'll know when.

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 12: Vermilion City Blues.

It was almost the end of summer but the temperatures were still high. It was a day after Blue arrived in Vermilion City. She arrived rather late so she couldn't go to challenge the Gym right away, as she would have preferred. Instead she spent the night at the Pokemon Center.

When she woke up she moved through the building carefully, afraid that she would meet Red, which could lead to an awkward situation. To her relief he wasn't there. However, a downside of her travelling alone was that she had to provide the food for herself.

She took out her inventory pad, a device based around Bill's research which instead of Pokemon could store items and allowed trainers to carry a lot of stuff without being bothered by their weight. The one belonging to Blue contained two spare sets of the same clothes she was usually wearing, underwear, pajamas, a one piece swimsuit, healing items, pokeballs, her tent and various things which helped with hygiene when not at a Pokemon Center. Another thing she would usually store there were berries and bottles of water gathered by Red. Since they were transformed into data they would never go bad. But sadly, Blue consumed all her reserves.

She decided to go find some restaurant to eat breakfast at. On the way to the center of the city she got quite thirsty because of the burning sun. Fortunately, she stumbled onto a vending machine. When she has chosen a beverage she took out some coins from her wallet but the sweat caused her hand to slip and drop the money.

She carefully kneeled down and started to gather it but some of it went under the machine. She moved to the right side, thinking it would be easier to get it out. The position she was in was uncomfortable but she didn't want any of her money to go to waste. Suddenly, she heard some clicking sounds and then something falling down. She looked up and saw a boy about her age. It was no one other than Green. But at that point in time she didn't know it yet.

"Here." he said while taking out a can of peach soda from the machine and handing it to her.

"Huh? Uh... Thanks." she took it in her hand.

After realizing that she was practically laying on the ground, she got embarrassed and quickly stood up while trying to get the dirt off her skirt.

"Why did you give it to me?" she asked.

"It was sad seeing someone who was so poor that they would roll in the dirt to find some coins. I'm sorry that I can't help you more."

"What?!" she yelled while a vein popped up on her forehead.

She threw the can at him, and the boy barely managed to dodge it.

"What are you doing?! Do you want to kill me?!"

"I'm not homeless or whatever you thought! I don't need your charity!"

"Okay, okay. Sorry for the mistake. I'll leave you be." he said while slowly beginning to walk away.

"Crazy lady." he added so quietly that she couldn't hear him.

After he left, Blue saw that the can she threw landed on soft grass and wasn't damaged, so she picked it up while making sure that no one could have seen her and mistake for a poor person again. She wondered however how the boy figured out that peach soda was her favorite.

. . .

At the same time as the encounter between Blue and Green took place, Red also finally arrived in Vermilion City. His nose twitched a little so he decided to focus on the smell that got stronger the further he went. He didn't know what it was yet, but it was the first time in his life he was so close to the sea so the air around him was a little different to the one he was used to.

Because of the smell, he passed the map of the city which was right by the entrance he went through to get there. But he soon started looking around when the smell mixed with another one. He realized that he was walking through a fish market. Red smiled when looking at crowds of people haggling over prices and shopkeepers trying to woo potential customers by saying how good they products were.

When he finally passed all of the stands, having to shoo away a man who insisted that the boy try some of his goods, he arrived at the port. He had to hold onto his hat when a strong gust of wind hit him. After that, he wandered around while looking at containers and various people walking around in a hurry. As he went further he started seeing glimpses of the water, but the port was full of boats, which, while impressive, were hiding from him the thing he wanted to see the most.

Red noticed a crane which was about 12 meters high and using the fact that no one was around, he climbed onto its arm. After getting to the very top, he looked at the vastness that was spreading in front of him. The sea was calm and the sky was clear. At that moment, there was only one thing Red could see.

"Everything is blue."

"Hey! Get down from there!" a male voice came from below.

Red looked down and saw a sailor with a big package held beside his head by one of his arms. The boy slid down the arm of the crane and did a somersault before landing in front of the man. He looked surprised by this acrobatic feat.

"I... I wanted to say that it's dangerous but after that... Anyway, you shouldn't do that. There have been news of some suspicious guys who want to sneak on St. Anne and if you do stuff like that, they make take you for one of them."

"St. Anne?"

"It's that big ship over there." the man said while pointing with his free arm to an enormous cruise ship.

"Ooh! I didn't notice it!"

"You didn't notice? Are you okay in the head? It's the biggest thing here."

Red quickly looked up and then to side before replying "Third biggest."

The man looked confused but before he could ask the teenager what he meant by that, the boy already ran in the direction of St. Anne.

. . .

Meanwhile, Blue managed to find a restaurant that seemed like a nice place for a breakfast. As she reached for the handle of the doors, they suddenly swung open, almost hitting her. She jumped a little but then let out a sight, glad that she wasn't hurt. Immediately, she decided to scold whomever it was that opened the door. She stopped herself after seeing what they looked like.

It was a pair of men in their 30's, both rather tall and muscular. They wore black leather pants and vests. One of them had dark skin and an eyepatch while the other was wearing a black cap and had a chain wrapped around his waist. Additionally, both of them had large moustaches. If she saw them on TV, she would probably laugh out loud, but when seeing them in real life, she immediately realized that they were the types that one should not mess with.

Seemingly ignoring her, they walked forward. The dark-skinned one didn't avoid her, even though she was in his path which caused the girl to be knocked aside. Before she could tell what has happened, she had her bottom on the ground and the two men already disappeared inside one of the alleys.

"Why does this have to happen to me?" the girl lamented while standing up.

Even though her day was already ruined, she didn't suspect that soon it was going to get even worse. She went into the restaurant and after getting a menu from the waitress, she selected a Spaghetti with Octillery ink, whatever an Octillery was.

When she finished eating and informed the waitress that she was ready to pay the bill, she arrived at a grim realization; her wallet was missing. She frantically searched through her bag and checked to make sure that she didn't accidentally put it in her inventory pad. She grabbed her head with both hands and looked down in despair, thinking about how she would go to jail for not paying and how she would be locked up with various criminals. This train of thought led her to recall the encounter with two men which transpired around 30 minutes earlier. It had to be them. The man bumped into her un purpose and used her fear as a distraction to steal her wallet.

She got up, full of anger, but after remembering her situation, immediately sat down. Even though she had her suspicions, she couldn't prove that she was robbed until she found these men, and she couldn't do that without leaving the restaurant which was impossible without her paying the bill.

She heard the doors of the restaurant open and decided to look in that direction as if she was hoping that some sort of salvation would appear in them. To her surprise, the person that arrived there was the boy she met earlier. Immediately, she formed a plan in her head. It was a gamble but she didn't see any other option.

"Excuse me, waitress."

"Yes?" the woman said while walking over to her.

"I have to go but my boyfriend will pay my bill."

"Boyfriend?" the woman asked with a puzzled expression.

Blue pointed to the boy who was still hanging around the door, probably trying to decide on where he wanted to sit.

"Hey!" Blue yelled to him while waving her hand.

At first he didn't realize that he was the one being called but after seeing her, he instinctively put up his hand and waved back, although a little confused why the girl would welcome him happily after how she acted before. Blue stood up and took her bag before she started walking in his direction. He wanted to say something but she was quicker "Thanks for paying my bill. Just wait here. I'll be back."

She said these words very quickly and before Green could process what just happened, she was already gone. He wanted to go after her but a whistle from the waitress stopped him. He turned around and saw the woman tapping the floor impatiently with one of her feet.

"You have to pay for your girlfriend before you leave."

. . .

A little earlier, while Blue was still waiting for her meal, Red managed to reach the St. Anne by carefully squeezing between containers and ducking whenever someone was about to accidentally hit him with a beam or some other thing they were carrying.

He has been staring at it for about 20 minutes. The ship was so tall that he felt a little pain in his neck when he had to look up to see it. He also had to look to the sides because he was too close to have its entire length in his view. Just as he was amazed at the sea before, he couldn't find words for how excited he was to see this machine.

He started approaching the ship when he was noticed by a sailor who quickly ran over and tackled him. Red was confused for a couple seconds, not entirely sure what just happened.

The man got up. He had short brown hair, a big round nose, really hairy arms, and it was hard to determine whether he was chubby or muscular. He looked to be around 30 years old. After standing up her reached his hand towards Red to help him.

"You really should look where you're going."

After hearing that, Red realized that he was so close to the boat that he was about to fall into water.

"Oh man. That was close. It's just... this thing looks so awesome."

"I know. I've been part of the crew for 5 years and I'm still amazed every time I get to look at it from the outside. But when I'm on-board, I completely forget about it since I'm surrounded by something that's much more impressive."

"The sea."

"Yeah."

And then came a period of silence when both of them were just staring at the ship while inhaling the sea breeze.

"Soooo... Can I get on?" Red asked finally.

"Oh, absolutely. I mean, it's still a little early but just go over to the ramp and show the guy your ticket." the sailor answered with a slight smile.

Red looked at him with a worried expression "My ticket?"

"Uh? Yes? What do you mean? Don't tell me you wanted to get on-board without your ticket."

"You keep saying "your ticket" like it's supposed to mean something. I don't have a ticket."

The sailors eyes widened as he took a step back.

"Wait just a moment! You want to get on the ship without a ticket?! We were warned that some thugs may want to sneak onto the ship to steal the stuff that's up for auction but I never thought somebody would have the gall to do it in the open!"

"Wait! It's a mistake!" Red put his hands up as a sign of protest but it was already too late to change the sailor's mind.

"I won't let you get away! Go, Kangaskhan!"

A large, brown Pokemon appeared before Red. The boy quickly checked the Pokedex to learn that it's a normal type. But he was slightly confused as to why the image shown in the Pokedex included something that looked like a smaller version of the Pokemon sticking its head out from the pouch on the belly of the bigger one. The one standing in front of him didn't have anything in its pouch.

"What are you waiting for?! Call out your Pokemon!" the sailor yelled.

"But... What? Why would you allow me to do that?"

"I'm a proud warrior whose goal is to win the Pokemon league. I will always allow an opponent a fair fight, no matter who they are. I'll warn you that I have 5 other Pokemon besides Kangaskhan."

Red smiled. The sailor was a little rash but the teenager liked his honesty.

"I'll take you up on that. Go, Charmander!"

After being released mid-air, the lizard performed a somersault before landing on all fours. He started looking around to see where its foe was but something huge was obscuring his view. He looked up to see what it was and finally saw that it was the one he was about to fight. He got a little frightened by the size of his opponent but put on a brave face and growled loudly.

Kangaskhan lifted one of its leg, pretending that he was about to step on Charmander. The lizard hid his head behind his hands, only to realize that the enemy was just making fun of him. This caused all his uneasiness to be replaced with anger. His mouth was fuming with smoke as he was getting ready to use Ember as soon as he was given the command.

"By the way, my name is Michael."

"I'm called Red."

"Okay, Red. Let's begin! Kangaskhan, Comet Punch!"

Although his opponent began the attack, he was fairly slow, so Charmander had no problem with avoiding the punch which instead hit the ground. But he got too confident in thinking that it was the end of the attack. Instead, Kangaskhan continued on punching with each of his arms. Finally, the lizard had nowhere to escape and the massive fist knocked him down to the ground where he was hit by another one.

The normal type Pokemon stood proudly after showing off its power. Charmander got up slowly and massaged his hurt back with one of his hands. He bit his lip and closed the left eye while dealing with pain.

"Charmander, back off!" Red commanded.

The lizard listened and retreated to what he assumed to be a safe distance.

"For now let's try Ember!"

Charmander had to gather the energy needed from the start as the one he wanted to use earlier quickly went back to its source after he was hit. But it didn't take a long time for him to shoot out a volley of flaming balls. To both his and Red's disappointment, Kangaskhan shrugged off the attack like it was nothing. It continued to stand there while giving them a provocative look.

"What Kangaskhan lacks in speed he more than makes up in strength and stamina." Michael praised his partner.

Charmander looked at its trainer, waiting for a command but Red was swallowed by his thoughts until he heard the Pokemon's cry.

"Ah! Sorry. I'm just trying to come up with something. Even though Ember did barely any damage, it's the only option we can go with for now. Using Scratch would be too dangerous and Smokescreen is useful only when you want to occupy a fast enemy. I will try to come up with something while you just do your thing."

The Pokemon looked unsure about his trainers decision but he still followed the order he received and kept showering his foe with fiery bullets, but even when Kangaskhan finally started to feel the attacks being effective, it kept up its proud stance, going as far as gesturing with one of its hands that it wanted Charmander to continue. That was the final incentive that the lizard needed to stop this farce and to go for some up-close offensive.

"No! Stop!"

Red's shout was too late. The lizard already managed to approach its foe only to meet a powerful Double Hit which yet again sent it onto the pavement. Kangaskhan didn't make any unnecessary moves and allowed the lizard to slowly get up just so it could hit him with another 2 Comet Punches. The second one was an upward strike which sent Charmander flying. Red ran over to grab the Pokemon in his hands.

"That's enough. I'll let Pikachu handle it." the boy said as he took out a pokeball.

Upon hearing these words, the lizard bit one the teenager's hands and fell down.

"Ow! What the hell are you doing?!"

The Pokemon looked at him with a more angry look that Red ever saw him with. That's when the trainer realized that he was going wrong about the whole thing. He was so focused on finding a way to win the battle that he forgot that Charmander wanted the same thing as him. There were many thoughts going through the fire Pokemon's head that he didn't know about but could have if he sometimes decided to look into what it was thinking.

Charmander was a natural fighter. After learning that Eevee and Pikachu both played parts in Red obtaining his 2 badges, the Pokemon started to feel worse about himself. He wanted to prove himself even though he didn't know how. He wasn't bright enough to come up with a strategy of his own so all he could do was give his best and hope that Red would appreciate it and find a way to win.

"Dammit!" the boy yelled while punching his open hand with the other one.

The lizard looked up with him, seeing that the trainer finally understood him.

"I'm sorry, Charmander. I never wanted to make you feel worse than the others. I never wanted to have you feel useless. Instead of having you hang back I should have allowed you to fight up-close since that's your specialty. But... I don't have any plan. I don't know if there is any way to win this fight... But the one thing I can do is let you give it your all, so in the end there will be no regrets. How about it?"

The Pokemon nodded with a confident look.

"Okay! Charmander, attack!"

The lizard began running towards its opponent and as it was getting closer, the flame on its tail began to grow. What Red didn't realize at that time was that it was caused by the activation of Charmander's ability, Blaze. That was because of what it caused to happen seconds later. The fire grew so large that it finally enveloped Charmander's body. In this state, the Pokemon decided to run straight into Kangskhan's belly. Although the massive Pokemon stood its ground, ready to receive the full force of the attack, it soon learned that it was the mistake. The move used by Charmander proved to be several times more powerful than Ember. Kangaskhan grabbed onto its belly while coughing because of the difficulty to breathe.

"It's not over! Keep attacking, Charmander!"

The Pokemon listened and again began running at Kangaskhan. Although the sailor's Pokemon tried to avoid, its foe somehow seemed to be faster than before and easily avoided the Comet Punch which was about to hit him, on his way to deliver another blow. The massive Pokemon was still standing but before Charmander got a chance to repeat its attack a third time, it was called back by its trainer.

"Okay. That will be it." said Michael.

The flames around Charmander's body disappeared and Red ran over to grab before it collapsed from exhaustion.

"You pass the test." declared the sailor.

"The test? I'm not sure I follow." replied Red.

"I took you for a criminal but no matter if you are one or not, I can't see someone who cares about his Pokemon so deeply as a person."

Red's face shone up with excitement "Does that mean I can get on the ship?"

"No."

"What?!"

"The rules are the rules. Even if you are not a criminal, nobody can enter without a ticket."

"Oh man. What am I gonna do? It's not like I know anybody who would just give me a ticket."

"Well... Maybe it's not much of a consolation but it's still pretty early, and the short cruise during which the auction will take place won't start until 2 o'clock. As long as you don't get in the way, you can stay here and keep me company."

"Okay! Hmm... I'll visit the Pokemon Center but I'll be back as quick as I can!"

"Goodbye for now."

"Bye."

* * *

The next chapter is here. First off, the title for this one was probably the hardest one to come up with and I'm still not sure I like it. I had to hit myself like 5 times when thinking about it, because somehow my mind just stopped and it took me too long to realzie that I was just sitting there, not thinking, writing or doing anything else. It's like some song titles and a phrase that appears in various places. Blank City Blues. Here, besides the usual meaning, it refers to the three blues appearing in the chapter; the sea, the sky and the trainer Blue.

And since I'm already talking about Blue, I should mention how excited I am for this meeting. In the original plans Blue and Green don't meet until much later on. I thought that it was a weird place for their first meeting. You'll realize what I mean when we reach that point. But I'm really glad that I came up with this story. Even though bad things happen to Blue, from the readers points of view it's just funny(I hope) antics. That whole plotline was supposed to play out in this chapter, but I didn't have time to write more and that way I wouldn't release a chapter till around the next weekend. But I guess it works since Vermilion City is really much more of a story arc than Pewter or Cerulean(which were both around 2 and 1/3 of a chatper). Seeing how it's going, Vermilion City will take 4-5 chapters, not counting the Special one.

The Special Chapter. Yes. I mentioned it previously so it's time for some explanation as to why it's special. It's gonna be a feature. What the hell does that mean? It will be a longer story that will play out in its entirety in that one chapter. It will be like what Pokemon movies are to the Pokemon anime, with 2 major differences. It will have its place in the story, meaning that I won't end a chapter with a cliffhanger and the suddenly have characters in a completely different place in the Special Chapter. And also, although the story will be kinda self-contained, meaning that it won't affect the Team Rocket and Mewtwo storyline, there may be(by which I mean, there definitely will be) some things that happen there that will later be brought up so it's not like it's skippable. Besides this one, I have 2 other Special Chapters planned. All of them will be connected by a new character. So far, I can say that the character is inspired by me watching a lot of Detective Conan recently.

If anyone is wondering how Michael wants to win Pokemon league while he's a sailor, I'll proably explain it later on. That's all for now.

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmander, Pikachu, Oddish.

Badges: 2

Green. Team: Ivysaur, ?, Jigglypuff, ?.

Badges: 2

Blue. Team: Bellsprout, Squirtle, Zubat.

Badges: 2

Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: ?, ?.

Peter. Team: ?, ?, ?.


	13. 13: Green's Day

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 13: Green's Day.

Green never gave it much thought, but if he were to say if he was a forgiving person, the answer would probably be "yes". He knew that he could sometimes come off as rude since he liked being quick and to the point, but he tried his best to never let his feelings get the better of him. It was the same that day when a stranger, a girl he met by accident refused his hospitality only to take advantage of him about an hour later. But nevertheless, he was still trying to understand the girl's point of view as a way to keep himself from getting angry. And "trying" is a good word.

"If I get my hands on her, I swear that I'll tear her apart." he said to himself while running through the streets Vermilion City in search of the mystery girl.

His Ivysaur who accompanied him as an additional pair of eyes, was slightly worried, seeing the usually calm boy act in such a way.

"We'll never find her this way." said the teenager, after stopping to catch his breath.

He looked up and had to put a hand above his eyes to stop the light coming from the sun rising behind some buildings. That gave him an idea of a better way to find the girl.

. . .

"Kids these days are so dumb. How much wallets is that so far? 7? And it's not even noon." the voice was coming from one of the 2 men that bumped into Blue, specifically the one with a cap.

"Yeah. Can you imagine that Team Rocket didn't want us to join them?" replied the other one.

"Who needs those idiots? We have enough money party for 2 weeks. I don't mind dying young if I can enjoy myself all the time."

"Ain't that the truth, brother?"

Both of them smiled as they raised cups filled with some kind of alcohol to lightly hit them against each other. They were sitting on wooden crates in a dirty back alley. The bottle was already half empty. Next to them were their Pokemon, a Marowak and a Lickitung, which were enjoying some fish burgers of which their trainers bought about 30.

"I found you!" a voice came from behind a wooden fence which isolated the alley from one connected to backdoors of various establishments.

2 of the boards suddenly shot out in their direction with Marowak using his bone to knock them down in order to protect the men.

"Hey, what's the big idea?!" yelled the dark-skinned one.

The being that appeared in front of them was emanating an aura that would make anyone tremble. It was like an incarnation of some kind of vengeful god came to pay them a visit. But after they calmed down a little, they saw that it was just one of the people they stole from that morning. Blue apparently used her Squirtle's Water Gun to get through the fence. She was staring them down while keeping her arms crossed and one of her legs placed atop a brick which must have come loose from one of the surrounding buildings.

"My day was already going bad, but then you had to come along and make it worse by stealing my wallet. I will make you pay." she declared.

The dark-skinned one started laughing. He found the situation so funny that he had to clean a tear that came to his eye.

"Who the hell do you think you are? Acting all high and mighty. Get lost before we kick your ass!" he replied at last.

The girl didn't see a point in talking to them any longer. She just wanted to get this over with as quickly as possible. She put up her right arm. It was a sign which told Squirtle to begin his attack. The turtle jumped up while rotating before it hid in its shell. While it landed on the ground, even though its limbs were hidden, it somehow was able to keep moving. It behaved somehow like a combination of a hockey puck and a homing missile. It traversed the alley too fast for its enemies to react. It approached the Lickitung and hit it right in the stomach, at the same time, sending the pink Pokemon into the legs of the man in the cap. The adult lost his footing and fell over on his Pokemon.

Seeing that the girl wasn't joking around, the other one commanded "Marowak, stop that thing! Bone Club!"

The Pokemon obeyed and used the bone it was carrying to hit Squirtle's shell. The attack didn't do too much damage but Marowak added his weight on top of it to stop the turtle in place. Its trainer took that moment to pull out a switchblade. He ran towards the girl who started reaching for one of the pokeballs on her belt. But it turned out that what she was doing was not only too slow, but also unnecessary. The man's approach was stopped by a knee that out of nowhere smashed into his face.

He fell over and while crying in pain, tried to stop the bleeding from his broken nose and dislocated jaw. Blue looked on in astonishment as the boy she met already 2 times, descended in front of her like a guardian angel. When she came to her senses, she realized that he was wrapped in something which extended upwards. She looked to the roofs and saw that the boy managed to get down from one of them thanks to his Ivysaur's vines.

"Thanks for savi..." she began, but was stopped right away when the boy turned around and pointed a finger at her.

"I will help you for now, but you better pay back for that spaghetti." he stated.

She quickly saluted him while saying "Yes, sir. Thank you for your cooperation."

The man knocked over by Lickitung managed to get up and approached his friend, possibly hoping that there was some way he could help him, but judging by his face, he was at a loss on what do. The other one reassured him by standing up and giving him a pat on the back.

"Ghu wghi to..." the dark-skinned man started to talk, but stopped when he realized that, because of the injury, speaking hurts and he can't pronounce the words properly.

"Don't worry. I will take care of them." assured him the other one.

He stepped forward and his Lickitung was already by his side, while the Marowak was looking back at its trainer, unsure on whether he should also take part in the fight, seeing that he wouldn't be able to receive commands. Meanwhile, Ivysaur used its vines to get down from the roof and both he and Squirtle were already raring to fight.

"Lickitung, use Rollout!" the man in the cap yelled out.

The Pokemon stood there without doing anything for some time before it looked at its trainer with a confused expression.

"Uh... On the Ivysaur!" he added.

Finally, the normal Pokemon executed the command by curling up in to a ball and rolling in the direction of its opponent.

Green was quick to react "Vine Whip dodge!"

Ivysaur used its vines to pull himself to a drainpipe, managing to avoid the oncoming attack. Lickitung stopped with a screech and started looking around, trying to understand why he didn't hit his target.

"Leaf Storm!" ordered Green.

The grass Pokemon began shooting out multiple leaves which spun through air while surrounding Lickitung. Marowak still didn't receive an order but, seeing that his battle partner was about to be in serious trouble, he decided to use Bonemerang, which consisted of him throwing his bone with as much power as he could in Ivysaur's direction.

"Water Gun!"

Ordered by Blue, Squirtle shot out a high pressure stream of water which knocked down the flying bone. Seeing that, Marowak started running to pick up his weapon.

"Rapid Spin!"

Without the bone, there was no way for the ground Pokemon to stop this attack, and he was almost instantly hit and sent flying towards his trainer. Meanwhile, Lickitung was already being hit by a tornado of razor-sharp leaves.

"Whi bhep thu zwof bhen!" the man with injured face was panicking, but his words couldn't be understood by his accomplice.

Marowak stood up and started to gather its strength by using Focus Energy, to be ready for his next move.

"Defense Curl!" the man in the cap ordered his Pokemon.

Lickitung formed himself into a ball again. This lessen the damage he was receiving from Leaf Storm, but also was the first step of its owner's plan.

"Now, use Rollout!"

Defense Curl caused the next move to become stronger which allowed Lickitung to break through the leaf avalanche and hit his unsuspecting opponent. On the other side of the battle, Marowak ran up to Squirtle again, but this time it jumped up in the air before attacking.

"Withdraw!" Blue ordered the turtle.

It proved to be pointless, since Marowak's Stomp hurt the water Pokemon even after it hid in its shell. Squirtle somehow managed to get up after its foe jumped back. It slowly retreated till it bumped into something. It was Ivysaur. They were now standing back to back with their enemies on either side of them.

"This doesn't look good." Blue commented with a worried expression.

"Can you keep them occupied for a little while?" Green asked her.

"Seems like you have a plan. I'll do my best." she responded before turning back to her Pokemon "Tori, it's time to use that!"

The Pokemon nodded and nudged Ivysaur while telling it something. After that, the turtle jumped up a little before going back in its shell and shooting out a Water Gun from inside in Marowak's direction. Ivysaur used it's vines to lift itself up because Squirtle's attack, aside from hitting the ground Pokemon, caused it to be propelled at Lickitung, hitting it in the head. The normal Pokemon quickly recovered from that and tried to hit Squirtle with its tongue, but its opponent jumped back. Not realizing that it was being lured, it followed. Marowak got up and started running towards Squirtle while picking up its bone on the way. It was at that moment that the men realized that Ivysaur was missing.

"Water Jump!" yelled Blue, who in this short time understood Green's plan.

Squirtle used Water Gun to shoot itself high into the air. At that moment, Lickitung turned around because of a strong light coming from behind him. Both he and Marowak looked terrified when they realized that while they were preoccupied with the other one, Ivysaur has been gathering energy in his bulb.

"Solar Beam!" shouted Green.

The energy gathered by Ivysaur was released in the form a beam which for a moment lit up the whole alley to the point where trainers had to close their eyes. After they opened them again, Marowak and Lickitung were both fainted on the ground. Squirtle used Rapid Spin in air to travel to its partner. The 2 men called back their Pokemon but still haven't learned their lesson, which could be judged by them trying to run away. Since Ivysaur was exhausted after it's show of power, Green swiftly grabbed one of his other pokeballs.

"Go, Hitmonlee! Double Kick!"

As soon as he was out of the ball, the fighting Pokemon ran after the criminals. During it's chase, it was moving so fast that it began running on the wall. When it quickly approached them, it delivered a kick to each of their faces, causing them both to faint, while also messing up their faces. Green recalled his Pokemon without a word before he walked over to the unconscious men. After searching their pockets, he returned with the 7 stolen wallets and presented them to Blue.

"Which is yours?"

"Oh. This one." she answered while taking one of them.

After looking inside, her face showed instant regret.

"What happened?"

"It's almost empty! They must have already spent all my money! How expensive was that alcohol?!"

Green put the other wallets on the ground and searched through them before saying "It seems like they haven't used the money in the other ones yet. We should probably return them to police together with those guys."

"Wait!" Blue yelled.

"What? You don't have to be so loud."

"Let me take care of this."

"Do you have some ulterior motive?" Green asked sarcastically.

"That's coming from you? You kneed that guy without hesitation just to get me to pay back for some stupid Spaghetti."

"Are you seriously trying to give a lecture about how I shouldn't have saved your life?"

"No, no. I am thankful. And I want to repay you, soooo..." while saying that, she used her eyes to point towards the wallets.

"You want to steal this money?"

"No, you dork! I want to give it to police. I just hope that the owners will give me some prize for returning it to them. I can't just tell my parents that I lost my money because they will send someone to take me back home for being irresponsible." she said with her face all red from a combination of anger and embarrassment.

Green turned around to give the matter some thought. He told himself that it was the pity he felt for the girl which made him trust her, but deep down he hid an interest for her that started to form since their first meeting. According to the rules he used with Red, he couldn't treat her like a friend yet, since all their encounters were pretty much one big thing, so he didn't even want to think about anything more than that. He considered some of the less appealing personality traits she showed so far, and that was enough to clear his mind of any thoughts he considered unneeded. Finally, he turned around and reached out to her with a hand full of bills.

"What is this?"

"If your own wallet is empty, the police may consider that it's some weird scheme, so take this for now. You can't pay me back what you owe me so let's just say that you will have more to pay."

Blue was unsure, but she took the money anyway.

"I will pay you back when I'll win the Pokemon league and become rich." she said while gathering the wallets from the ground.

"No, wait... You can pay me back before that. In fact, as soon as you can would be the best..."

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever." she responded while hiding the wallets in her bag.

"And what was that about winning the Pokemon league?"

"I'll win. So if we meet in a battle, prepare to lose." she said with a confident smirk "Anyway, I'll better go find a police station. Come, Tori."

The girl and her Squirtle started running in the direction of the broken fence through which they arrived.

"Wait...!" Green reached out with his hand as if trying to stop her.

"Goodbye!"

She was already gone.

"I... I didn't even get to introduce myself... And I don't know her name. I think I just made a horrible mistake by letting a stranger run off with my money." after saying that, he proceeded to lightly punch himself in the side of the head "Stupid, stupid, stupid."

. . .

"Where to put this?"

"I told you that you don't need to help me, Red." the sailor replied while seeing that the boy was carrying a rather big package "If you drop that, I'm gonna be the one that gets into trouble."

"But if I help you out, you can use that time to look out for any suspicious types."

"The most suspicious one here is you."

"Well, that's just not very nice."

Both of them started laughing, but had to stop when Michael realized that Red was about to fall over because the weight of the package was too much for him. He grabbed the other end in time and helped the boy put it on the ground.

"See? This is what I was talking about."

Red scratched the back of his head while laughing nervously at the sight of Michael's irritated face. Both of them turned their attention towards a person whom they noticed approaching.

"Watch out." said the sailor while stepping forward "It's still 2 hours till the cruise so this one may very well be a criminal."

Red ignored the warning and ran towards the person. He turned his head around midway and said "You really should work on not being so quick to judge. This is no criminal."

"Red." declared the new guest.

"Nice to see you again, Green. I guess we are finally acquaintances."

"The pleasure is mine. Are you also gonna attend the auction. I didn't take you for someone who is into these kind of parties but I guess the looks can be deceiving."

"No, no, no." Red responded while moving his hand from side to side "You need to get a ticket and only rich or well-known people received them. I just want to take time admiring it from the outside."

"How about admiring it after going aboard?" Green asked.

"Didn't you listen to me? You need a... a..." the boy couldn't finish his sentence after seeing that Green was holding 2 tickets in his hand "Where did you get these?!"

"That's not important. What's important is I don't have anyone to give this second ticket to. Well... there might have been one other person but... So, do you want one?"

"Of course!" he answered while quickly grabbing one of the tickets.

During their conversation, Michael managed to walk over.

"So he's your friend?"

"Not yet." answered Red "But now I have a ticket so I can go on the cruise!"

"That's great news. You still have time but there is no rule that says you can't board the ship earlier."

"Shall we go?" Red turned to Green.

"Yeah. Goodbye." he bowed his head slightly to the sailor.

"Bye."

"I will be busy during the cruise as part of the security but, as long as it's nonalcoholic, we can get a drink together."

"For sure!" Red replied before heading in the direction of the ramp.

. . .

Finally aboard the ship, the teenagers were slowly touring the weather deck. While walking and staring at the docks below, Red accidentally bumped into someone. It was an old man in a dark blue uniform with several badges and plates on it.

"I'm sorry!" the boy yelled while bowing as low as he could.

"Don't worry. Nothing happened." the man had a soothing voice "Hm? I made sure to go through the names of all our guests and check their photos on the internet but I don't recognize either of you."

"I got the tickets from Bill, the famous scientist." explained Green.

"Oh. From that man? Okay then. If you see any suspicious activity, make sure to notify somebody from the securi..." the man stopped because he thought he saw something hiding around a corner.

Passing the boys, he ran over. Without a word, both of them decided to follow him. When they caught up to him, they saw that he was holding somebody up by grabbing on their shirt. They quickly realized that it was a member of Team Rocket and 2 other were standing behind him.

"Let me go, you old fart! Don't you know who we are?!" the criminal shouted while struggling to get out of the man's grasp.

"Go, Koffing!" one of his companions released his Pokemon which rammed it's body into the member of the crew, causing his hand to loosen.

The trio from Team Rocket took a quick step back, before the one who was released pointed his finger forward while saying "You better give it up! If you don't want anyone else getting hurt, you will give us all the items that are up for action!"

"That's ridiculous! As the captain of this ship, I will never agree to that!"

"Aren't you Roger?"

"Huh?" the Team Rocket member in front reacted to hearing his name by looking at the 2 boys.

When he realized that the owner of the voice was Red, his legs became weak and he fell on the his bottom. Once on the deck, he started crawling backwards with a terrified face.

"What's going on?" asked him one of the other ones.

"You know this guy?" Green looked at Red.

"Kinda. I beat a group of Team Rocket members at Mt. Moon. He was one of them."

"And you didn't catch him?"

"What? No. There was a lot of them, so even if I tried, some would escape. Why do you care?"

"I... Eeh... It's not worth explaining. Anyway, we should get rid of these 3."

"Get rid of?" Roger said while swallowing saliva with fear.

"Don't be so full of yourself!" said another one while also releasing his Koffing.

"Go, Nidorina!" Green called out his Pokemon.

"I'll help you! Go, Oddish!"

"There's really no need to."

But the 2 Pokemon were already standing side by side. The one belonging to Red was half asleep, trying not to close its eyes, while Green's Pokemon was flexing its muscles.

"Okay!" Roger finally managed to get up and call out his own Koffing "I have to be strong! For Alex! He's been dealing with that incident for quite some time. He's so busy that he doesn't even have time to insult me. We have to make use of this time by stealing the items for the auction! Are you with me?"

The other 2 nodded in agreement.

"Sleep Powder."

"What?!" Roger yelled in surprise.

Before any of the Team Rocket members had a proper chance to do something, all of their Koffings fell on the deck sound asleep.

"Double Kick." Green ordered in a rather nonchalant manner.

Nidorina used her hind legs to kick two of the Koffings with force so great that they flew off the ship and into the sea. Afraid that the same was going to happen to his Pokemon, Roger quickly picked it up.

"You may have won today, but the next time we meet, it will be us who will be..."

Before he had a chance to finish, Green gave another command "Poison Sting."

Trying to avoid the poisonous needles fired from Nidorina's mouth, all 3 members of Team Rocket run towards the railing and jumped off. After the trainers didn't hear the sound of them for a couple seconds, they recalled their Pokemon.

"Oooh! That was amazing! Who knew that some of my guests would be such strong Pokemon trainers?!" the captain yelled out while patting both of them on their arms.

"Uuh... Thanks." Red replied with an embarrassed face.

"After seeing your abilities, there are 2 things that I want to talk about with you. First is an award for helping me."

"We don't really need anything." Red answered.

"Nonsense! How about you, boy? The award is a rather amazing Pokemon I caught recently." he turned to Green.

"Sound interesting. But what is the other thing you wanted to talk about?"

The smile faded from the man's face as he adjusted his tie and hat.

"This is a serious matter. As you know, there are many valuable items put up for auction that will take place in the evening. The one that's expected to sell for the highest price is the legendary Crystal Eye, a gem that's said to show the owner a glimpse of the future."

"That' can't be true." said Red.

"What does this have to do with us?" asked the other boy.

"If even some weak fools like these Team Rocket members managed to get through our security, we will have no chance if "he" really comes. That's why wanted to enlist your help as part of the security during the cruise."

The teenagers looked at each other with confused expressions before they turned to the captain and simultaneously asked "Who is "he"?"

* * *

Even though I enjoy writing, this chapter was kind of a chore. This was the one where I had to definitely put in everything I planned for it, since the next one is the special chapter. But this one already lays "seeds". I want to have at least some plot points that can go for like a year as, I guess, part of world building? I just don't want to make the story seem to focus on only one thing. So there are some things from this chapter and from the special chapter that I will go back to. It's not really a spoiler. It's more like, me reminding you to pay attention to details, or even to eventually remind me of stuff if I forget about some plot points myself, hahaha.

This chapter's name is of course a reference to the band Green Day(I just checked if I actually know any of their songs and I think there are 2-3 I recognize) and to how Green appears throughout the whole chapter for the first time. He also got to debut 2 of his Pokemon. Nidorina is there for the same reason as Jigglypuff(which is a secret), but I'm not sure why I gave him a Hitmonlee(I thought it was a Hitmonchan). I'm satisfied by his interactions with both Blue and Red. Red and Blue have a friendly relationship where they like to make fun of one another, Red and Green can sometimes be sarcastic towards each other but they have that air of mutual respect and Green somehow makes Red act more mature, while Green and Blue is a case of opposites attracting each other. They got of the wrong foot and Blue has too much pride to forgive that, which agitates Green yet somehow they get along quite well.

We also had our first double battle so that was cool, but because it took me a long time to write, I had to be kinda mean to Roger's group.

And finally, we can talk about the upcoming final chapter. I said already that it will be longer so it may very well take a month or more to finish, depending on how much time I will ha... Wait a moment. I think here's someone in my house. I'll try to quietly get up and chedlsjiuedgfui.

Excuse me for that. I didn't want to knock the poor guy out but I just could not wait to meet you. I came to announce that I will steal the Crystal Eye at exactly 9 p.m. Look out for my awesome entrance.

This was me,

Phantom Venin

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmander, Pikachu, Oddish.

Badges: 2

Green. Team: Ivysaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee.

Badges: 2

Blue. Team: Bellsprout, Squirtle, Zubat.

Badges: 2

Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: ?, ?.

Peter. Team: ?, ?, ?.

Oww. My head hurts. What was that? Phantom Venin? I created that asshole and he dares to hit me with a lamp? Well, at least I manage to get to 50.000 words so there's something to celebrate.


	14. S1: Phantom Venin and the Crystal Eye

EDIT: I finally got around to putting the dots that signify scene change in this chapter. I will add them to the next two soon. Sorry if you have read this and got confused in some places.

* * *

Before you start reading this chapter, I advise that you copy the whole thing and put it in a word document to keep track of where you left off, since it's over 30,000 words long. Unless you've got some other way to deal with long texts. Then you're free to use that. I'm just trying to help. Also, be sure to take breaks when reading. I don't want you to sue me if your eyes go bad(issa joke).

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Special Chapter 1: Phantom Venin and the Crystal Eye.

Somewhere on the vast sea, a small sailboat was slowly drifting through the waves. The only passenger was a dark haired man, who could be anywhere from 15 to 30 years old, wearing swimming shorts, a straw hat and sunglasses. Although he was enjoying the sun, his mind and face were buried in a notebook which contained his plans for the day.

"Maybe I should change this part? It sort of depends on how much luck I'll have." his voice was very soft and had some kind of accent, although it was hard to tell where it came from.

He stopped for a short moment while tapping his chin with a pen until he lifted his head to the point where he was looking backwards "What do you think?"

The one he was talking to was a Clefable who at that moment walked out of the cabin carrying a tray with two drinks with straws and small umbrellas. The Pokemon gently put them on a short table which was right next to the deckchair the man was lying on before looking into the notes which were actually drawings, in case the man ever needed a help from his partners, like in that moment. After looking through a couple pages, Clefable shook his head to the sides.

"So you think it's good? Maybe I should stop worrying. We still have half a day till the whole thing. Hmm?"

After putting aside the notebook and lifting his sunglasses to the forehead, the man stood up and walked over to the rear of the boat. He focused his eyes on an object that was moving through the waves as slowly as his boat. After it got a little closer, he could finally begin to tell that it was the thing he suspected, an iceberg.

"I know these things appear around Seafoam Islands but I didn't expect to see them this close to the mainland. It's a good thing the sea is calm and the weather is clear, so we'll have no problems avoiding it."

The Clefable who stood beside him, nodded, while finishing his drink. The man heard a weird sound and turned his gaze towards the Pokemon who was covering his mouth.

"Was that a hiccup?"

Clefable tried to deny by shaking his head to the sides, but when another sound came from his mouth, his trainer sighed while grabbing the bridge of his nose.

"I told you not to add any alcohol. You better get yourself sorted out before the evening... And get me a new drink."

. . .

Meanwhile, aboard the St. Anne, Red and Green were visiting the captain in his quarters. After being handed a piece of paper, the boy in the hat was sitting in a chair and reading through it with the other one bending over and leaning on the same chair to also get a good look at the message written on the paper.

"Sooo... Who is this Phantom Venin?" Green asked while looking up at the captain.

"I guess you haven't heard of him since a lot of this stuff is kept under wraps. In short, he's a highly skilled thief who specializes in stealing items that are said to be priceless; anything from a precious rock like the Crystal Eye to works of art to fossils." the captain explained.

"And he announced that he's going to steal this particular gem." Green said to himself while rubbing his chin.

"That's one of the interesting things about him. Even though there are many other valuable items up for auction, if he declared that he's gonna still this one, we can be sure that the rest are safe from his hands." explained the captain.

"You said "one of the things". Is there anything else?" asked Red.

"Yes. Although it may sound weird, it seems he's a highly skilled magician and a master of disguise..." the captain answered.

"Well, that's not that..."

Captain interjected Red by continuing "...and he can fly."

A silence fell over the room for a couple seconds during which the teenagers were trying to process what they just heard.

Finally Green spoke up "Could you repeat?"

"Yeaaah. What do you mean by that?"

"He has wings."

Again, everyone went quiet for a short time before Red stood up and slammed his hands on the desk "Are you joking around?!"

"No, no. I'm just saying what I heard. Maybe he's just using some mechanical wings but I don't want to omit anything that could help in stopping him."

"Okay." the trainer calmed down "Do you want us to catch him?"

"As long as the Crystal Eye is safe, I don't care if he gets away."

"But won't he come for it again?" Green wondered.

"It seems that it's against his rules. Once, when trying to steal an ancient vase, he hurt his leg and couldn't run away with it, so he left it there and never returned again."

The captain reached into a drawer in his desk to take out a pipe and some tobacco. Before lighting them, he also searched for a pokeball which he put in front of himself.

"This is the Pokemon I was talking about earlier. Take it."

Green walked over to the desk, picked up the ball and attached it, in the same manner as the other ones, to his belt.

"Now... If you agree to help me deal with this Phantom Venin situation, as long as I'll know that you gave it your all, there will be a monetary prize in it for you. A bigger one, if you manage to protect the Crystal Eye."

"I'm up for it." stated Green.

Both of them turned their eyes to Red. Although he felt a little pressured, he already made his decision earlier, so he just put his thumb up as a sign of agreement.

"Marvelous!" the captain yelled while standing up, with a huge cloud of smoke escaping his mouth "Although the Phantom announced that he's gonna strike at 9, the auction stars at 7 so I want you to keep watch from that point onward. Until then you are free to do whatever you want. Each ticket has a room assigned to it in case you want to rest, clean up, change clothes or whatever..."

The captain stopped for a short while and looked like he was thinking about something.

"Do either of you have a suit?"

"I'm afraid not." responded Green.

"There's still almost over an hour before we depart so I'll quickly send someone to go rent you suits."

Green smiled lightly "You don't trust us enough to go by yourself?"

"Hmm. I'm not sure..." the captain said while walking in their direction, before swiftly pinching both of their faces.

Red fell down from surprise, while Green just turned his smile into a frown, waiting for the man to let go of his face.

"I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I just had to make sure these weren't really well made masks."

After that, both of the boys slowly backed off towards the door.

. . .

Not too much later, somewhere in Vermilion City, Blue was stretching her arms while exiting a police station with a satisfied expression on her face. She looked into her bag. After the whole ordeal she had to go through, she made a decision to store her wallet in her inventory pad and only take it out when necessary. Since each pad had a password, most thieves wouldn't bother with trying to steal them anyway.

She immediately went against her new rule and took out her wallet which was more filled than ever. Aside from the money she got from Green, she got a lot more as a reward for bringing a couple policeman to the alley with the 2 still unconscious criminals, and also from a couple people who were grateful for getting back their stolen wallets.

"Okay. I have so much money that I should plan ahead what I'm going to do. Maybe with this I can afford to take care of more than 6 Pokemon. Or maybe I should send it to my parents?"

While pondering on what to do, she overheard a stylishly dressed couple who were just passing her and talking about the best meal they ever had and the best view they ever saw. Interested, she quickly followed them and carefully blocked their path.

"Excuse me. I overheard what you were talking about. What is this place with great food and views?"

"It's that building over there." one of them pointed to the tallest building in this part of the city "There's a really famous chef working there and you can see the city, the port and the sea. But... Forgive me for saying this but you don't look like someone who could afford to eat there."

A vein immediately appeared on Blue's forehead. It took all of her power from saying or doing something mean. Instead, she decided to walk away as quickly as possible for those peoples sake.

"I'll show them. I'm gonna go there and have the most expensive thing they serve!" overcome by rage, Blue completely stopped thinking on how to rationally spend her money.

. . .

"What is going on here?"

The mysterious man on the boat was not too happy with what was going. Even though he wanted to spend the day by relaxing before what he planned for the evening, he had to put multiple blankets on his body to shield himself from the cold. He was behind the boat's wheel trying to avoid a 6th or 7th iceberg in about an hour. He finally seemed to pass all of them, but because of that he went further into the sea than he planned and had to find a way to turn back without having to go around the icebergs yet again.

His mind wandered off towards Seafoam Islands. The legends told about a mythical bird who resided there and would sometimes create these icebergs to try to scare off potential threats. But the number was never that high. If one believed in the existence of the legendary bird, it was scary to think what was so threatening that it had to go these lengths to protect itself.

"I hope that none of these icebergs get in the way of our plan."

His words fell on empty ears because his Clefable was still in a daze from the alcohol it consumed.

. . .

Aboard the St. Anne, Red was visiting each of the places available to passengers one by one, not staying in any too long because he felt that it would be better to enjoy them with somebody. Green wasn't with him because he wanted to get himself acquainted with his new Pokemon in case it could prove to be exact monster needed to stop Phantom Venin.

After getting a good look at one of the pools from the balcony, Red slowly lifted his head while closing his eyes to focus better on a scent that was just noticed by his nose. Following it, he quickly arrived at one of several restaurants scattered throughout the giant ship. It was decorated with sculpted columns, both the walls and the floor were red with gold markings. The tables were made from sturdy, polished wood as were the chairs which additionally had a red, soft material for the seats and backs, which Red could attest to after trying one of them. He was holding onto the chair with both hands while testing how hard would it be to tip it over with him on it, at least until another person arrived from the kitchen.

"Hey, you!"

The voice was so startling, that Red almost actually fell off his chair, but he somehow managed to grab onto the table and stop himself. After letting out a sigh of relief, he looked in the direction of the open doors, which were right next to the counter behind which was a window with a look into the kitchen. The person that called him was a tanned, young adult with a his hair in a ponytail, in a chef's uniform.

"Yes?" Red asked hesitantly.

"I don't care if you are some kind of prince, but if you break something, you will have to pay for it." he responded in a rather nonchalant manner.

"Prince?" the teenager was confused "Far from that. I'm just a normal guy. Well... The captain hired me and my friend to help with protecting the Crystal Eye."

"The Crystal Eye? Yeeeah... I have no idea what that is. Is that one the things that's gonna be sold at the auction?"

"Uhm." he said while nodding "You really don't know about it?"

"Well, I care about doing my job. It's not like I could afford anything they're gonna sell, so I'd rather focus on what I can do. But... a hired help? Interesting."

"Is it?"

"Maybe..." the main said very quietly while glancing towards the kitchen through the door which was kept open by his foot "In the last week, about 20 of the cooks either called in sick, retired or got into an accident. There's around 150 of us on this ship, but it's still a surprisingly high number. We had to quickly get replacements. 3 of those replacements are currently working under me and they seem almost like complete rookies so the only thing they are good for is washing the dishes."

"You sound like a person who takes a lot of pride in what they do." Red blurted out, before a thought came over him that it may have sounded rude.

The man laughed when he saw the boy cover his mouth "Don't worry. I sometimes get too full of myself, true, but you should judge whether I'm too prideful by trying some of my food. We have started preparing a soup and seafood but they're not gonna be ready until quite some time, but we were actually eating a lunch, since we're gonna be constantly busy after all the passengers get on the ship. You can try some of it if you like."

"That'd be great."

Soon after that, the chef and the trainer were both enjoying their own bowl of macaroni with cheese, scallops and a vegetable sauce, while telling various stories from their travels. It was when they were about to finish eating when Green arrived in the restaurant, frantically looking around. When his eyes fell on Red's face, he quickly walked over with quite an irritated expression on his face.

"Oh! Green! You should try some of this pasta!" Red shouted happily, but his expression quickly changed to a cautious one when he realized that for some reason the other boy was angry at him.

"I told you that it would only take me a couple minutes and that I wanted you to want and yet you went by your own and I had to search half the ship to find you!" Green burst out.

The chef, not happy that he was interrupted during his meal, looked like he was chewing on something sour, while covering his ears from the deafening yells.

"Sorry, sorry. I was just kinda bored. But you found me, so you should eat with us."

Still annoyed Green started to talk "I don't wanna eat any..."

"He can't." the captain interrupted him.

"I can't?!" Green jumped back in surprise.

Even though he just announced that he didn't want to, it came as a shock that he would have been refused either way when Red already ate a meal.

"We made enough for the people working in this restaurant and each of us gave a little of his portion so that Red could have a meal, so there's nothing left. Sorry. But if you want, you can come back here later. Since you're hired by the captain, I guess that to a rational point, you can get free meals."

"Oh. Okay. Then I'll be back!" Green shouted while triumphally pointing a finger at the chef.

"Why are you making such a big deal out of this?" Red wondered.

"Because I want some satisfaction! You got a delicious meal. And what did I get? Nothing."

Red looked at him for a while, unsure of how to cheer him up, until he arrived at a conclusion "But you got something. That new Pokemon of yours."

"Oh, yeah." Green seemed to have forgotten completely about the prize he got from the captain until that point "Here."

Red was completely dumbfounded by the fact that his rival put the ball with, what he assumed to be, his new Pokemon, in front of Red.

"Wait. What is going?!"

Green didn't look angry or sad anymore. He just looked devoid of any hope and dreams. The boy slowly started walking towards the exit while hunched over. Red got up as fast as he could and after bowing and thanking the chef, and picking up the pokeball, followed his friend outside of the restaurant.

"Green, wait up! Why did you leave your new Pokemon?"

"I..." Green hesitated "You can have it. If you don't want it, just release it. I'm just afraid that if the captain played a joke like that on me, the prize we'll be getting for this security job will be another scam."

"Is it a weak Pokemon?"

"See for yourself."

"Okay." he said as he lifted the hand with the ball, ready to throw it.

"Wait, wait! We need to get to a pool or something first!" Green quickly stopped him while frantically waving his hands.

"Uh? Okay?"

After a couple minutes of walking, they managed to reach the pool that Red saw before.

"Is here good?" Red asked while squatting to test the temperature of the water with his hand.

"Yeah. I don't think passengers would be happy if you let a Pokemon swim in the pool so it's good that you see it before they start getting on."

"Alright." Red stood up and reached for the pokeball again "Go, whatever you are!"

From the red beam of light appeared a Pokemon that was mostly of that same color. A fish that looked disoriented by where it was. After seeing Green, it started swimming around in circles as a show of happiness.

"It looks happy to see you. Why don't you like it?"

"Don't you know what that is? It's a Magikarp. Although it has the possibility of evolving into a really strong Pokemon, training it takes a lot of time and work. In nature, it can learn only weak or downright useless moves."

Red looked a little taken aback by these words but tried to stay positive "He can't be that bad."

"If you don't believe me, check your Pokedex."

"Well... Alright." Red responded before reaching into his pocket for the device "Hmm. Magikarp. Fish Pokemon. Water type. Moves that it can learn are Splash, Tackle and Flail. Oh. Here's a description..."

"Well? What does it say?" Green asked him with a rather smug look on his face.

"It says that it's horribly weak, very unreliable, pathetic and virtually worthless in terms of speed and power..."

"See?"

"No. There must be something good here! Wait! Here!"

"What is it?"

"It says that it can survive in any body of water, no matter how polluted it is. It also says that a Magikarp living for many years can leap a mountain using Splash! How about that?"

Green was astounded by how Red would try to find the best even in the worst "That first thing doesn't seem like it would be actually useful. And the second one just sounds like a made up story."

"Watch!"

"Watch what?"

"I'll prove you wrong. I'm gonna take this Magikarp and make him strong. The strongest of any water Pokemon."

Green stood there for a second, thinking about something before he spoke up again "How about we make a deal? If we fight against each other in the Pokemon League, we'll both use our water Pokemon as the first ones. I don't have one but I'm sure I'll catch something stronger than this one before then. How about it?"

Green reached out with his right hand, and Red responded by shaking it with his own.

"Deal!" they both shouted so loud that the Magikarp who was enjoying himself in the water, jumped a little in surprise.

"Magikarp, from now on, Red will be your trainer." Green said while using a thumb to point to his friend.

The fish Pokemon turned its gaze towards its new partner, unsure of what was happening but after seeing the boy's smile, it immediately felt some kind of attachment to him, to the point that it jumped out of the water and started to happily splash around at its new trainer's feet. The boys panicked for a while before they both arrived at a surprising conclusion.

"It doesn't need water to survive?" Green's face was a mix of fear and astonishment.

"It seems so." said Red before reaching down to gently pet his new friend.

The boys were staring at it with spaced out expressions until they were taken out of their trance by a female voice "Uuuh... Like, what are you guys doing?"

They decided to look up and saw a girl who seemed to be a little older than them. She wore denim shorts, a white tank top with a bikini top visible underneath, elevated sandals and a designer bag. She had her blonde hair tied up in a bun and had gold-rimmed sunglasses on her forehead. Both of them considered her to be fairly attractive but were too busy, with thinking about how they would explain themselves, to focus on her good looks.

"Uh... So it seems the other passengers started getting on." Red stated the obvious.

Green decided to take control of situation by asking her "Are you here for the auction?"

"Like, why should I tell you that?"

Having his strategy completely annihilated, Green stood there with an open mouth, frantically trying to come up with something to say to that.

"No, I'm not." the girl also seemed to feel awkward so she decided to speed up their conversation "My father wants to get that crystal something or other for his collection. He made me go with him, so to make him angry I've decided to spend the whole day by myself... Like, maybe I'll try hitting on hot guys?"

Red grabbed Green's shoulder, afraid that he didn't know what would happen if this kept progressing. He thought that his rival would be better at this kind of stuff, but they were both similarly helpless.

The girl smirked deviously before adding "Tell me if you see any."

By saying that, she wanted to imply that a bunch of weirdos playing around with a fish by the pool was not worthy of her attention. After stroking her own ego in such a way, she quickly left by passing them both on her way to another pool, since she felt disgusted by the thought of swimming somewhere where a Magikarp swam before.

"Magikarp, return for now." Red called back his Pokemon, before both he and Green, without needing to exchange words, decided to return to their room in an awkward silence.

. . .

"Will that be all, Madam?"

A middle aged waiter with a waxed moustache arrived at Blue's table when he saw that she finished her second serving of the most expensive dish they had at the restaurant. Blue was taken out of her zone where she tried to forever save that amazing taste in her memory, knowing that she probably won't get many chances to eat something like that again.

"Ah. Sorry. I mean... Yes. You can bring the check."

"Right away." he said, while taking a little bow, before leaving.

Blue, not completely aware of how high class restaurants worked, decided to stand up to stretch her legs a little after being in her chair for almost an hour. Although it was comfortable, for her it was too much. She felt like she would sink in the comfort. While walking around, she noticed a transparent door in the high windows which surrounded the room. She was so consumed by her meal that she didn't have a chance to get a good look at the outside. The view from the balcony surrounding the tall round building was breathtaking. The people on the streets below looked almost like insects, but what got her attention the most was the sea. Thinking about how big it was, she started remembering her home which was on the other side of that body of water. When she felt a tear run down her cheek, she decided to turn her attention to something else.

She noticed a commotion at the port but couldn't quite tell what was going on. Thankfully, there were free tower viewers to both sides of her. She used one of them to look at the situation in the port. The commotion was around a giant ship, the biggest one she ever saw. There were plenty limousines and other expensive cars arriving there. She tried to zoom in as much as she could, and although she could tell there were many people there who were dressed in fancy clothes, she couldn't really tell their faces, so she wouldn't know if there were some celebrities there that she liked. She looked up a little to view how the deck looked. She blinked quickly and jumped backwards a little.

"No. That couldn't be him. But it seemed like that person had..."

"Madam?" she heard behind her.

"Ah! Yes?" she answered while turning around.

"I brought your check." the waiter said while handing her a booklet with a piece of paper inside.

"Right away. I..."

"Does something seem to be the problem?"

"Is this price right?"

"It should be. Well... I never saw anyone asking for two servings of the most expensive dish we have but if you can't pay there will be..."

"Of course I can pay it!" she got offended yet again "...It's just that I will use up everything besides what I got from Green..." she added quietly.

. . .

Red and Green were walking through the corridors of the ship. After spending some time in their room, they agreed on finding another pool and relaxing there for an hour or two.

"Shut up."

"I'm just trying..."

"I said shut up, Red." Green was quickly growing impatient.

"I'm just trying to say that I thought you would be better with girls."

"You weren't doing so hot out there either. You spent like the last hour crying into that pillow."

"I wasn't crying!" Red stuck out his chest, feeling that it would make him seem more respectable "And besides... You look like the kind of guy who could sweet talk girls and they would fall for it."

Green stopped and looked at Red, not sure if he should be proud or offended "What does that even mean?"

"I... With those purple pants, the collared shirt, the necklace and the wristbands... You look kinda like a douche."

"What?!"

"I said "look like". I didn't say that you are one."

Green threw his hands up in the air "Unbelievable."

For the rest of the way, Red tried to apologize by praising Green's battling skills and personality but his rival wasn't so easy to convince. He finally cheered up a little when they arrived at their destination.

"I haven't been on a holiday in a long time." he stated.

"Why would you need a holiday? You're young. Holidays are for old people who need a break from work."

"I don't know what you've been doing with your life before becoming a trainer but I spent all my time helping my grandpa or studying Pokemon."

"Oh. I was a fisherman."

"Somehow that doesn't surprise me. You know..."

"Yes?"

"...This is the longest amount of time we spent together and I'm actually beginning to think I hate you."

"What?!" Red jumped back in surprise, causing him to bump into a person who was walking by and making them fall on the floor.

"Oh. Sorry. Let me help you." he said while bending down and reaching out with his hand which was promptly slapped away.

"I don't need your help, you pleb!"

The person got up. It was a fairly handsome man, with small, wide, green eyes and blonde, wavy hair combed to one side, who looked around 20 years old. He was wearing red pants and a red vest with a white, long-sleeved shirt underneath and a crimson tie around his neck. His black shoes were polished to the point where one could almost see their reflection in them. It was surprising that he wasn't bothered by the hot weather in that get-up.

"You will pay for your insolence! 20,000 to be exact." he said with a voice full of hostility.

"Whaaa-?" Red was visibly confused, while Green was standing back to see how the situation would play out.

"Didn't you hear me? I demand recompensation for hurting me and for getting my clothes dirty."

"But you don't look hurt and the floor is clean." Red stated the truth.

"That doesn't matter now, does it?"

Red turned around to his friend "Is this guy some kind of idiot?"

Green just lifted his hands, showing that he was just as clueless as to what was taking place.

"Wait." the man grabbed his panicked face with one of his hands as if he was trying to calm down his breath "You don't know who I am?"

Red just shook his head to the sides while Green lifted his hands yet again.

"Oh, the tragedy! I'm the one and only son of the king of the flower kingdom, Fleurland. I'm prince Jon Quille Laiteron! Not recognizing me doesn't excuse your insolence!"

"Okay." Red answered, before starting to walk away seeing as he was getting bored by the whole situation.

"Hold up! How dare you ignore me! I demand satisfaction!"

Green also started walking away, hoping to find a good place by the pool but before leaving he said "It's not like he has such amount of money, idiot. If you want to be satisfied you should beat him a Pokemon battle or something.."

"That's it!" the prince shouted while hitting the open palm of one of his hands with a closed fist formed by the other.

He took a few quick steps to get in front of Red and pointed a finger at him in a rather exaggerated manner "I challenge you to a duel! We'll both use one Pokemon each. If I win, after this cruise is over, you will work in the flower kingdom, taking care of the stables, until you are able to pay what you owe me!"

"And if I win?"

"Well, that won't happen, but you can ask for anything you wa..."

"You'll change your name to Idiot Prince."

"Wait-What?"

"So? Can we start?"

"Of course. As I said, there are no chances of you winning so I don't care about your demands."

The prince walked away so that they both next to the pool but at the opposite ends of it. Realizing what was happening, most people decided to move away to the other sides of the pool. Many of them became interested in the conflict and were watching with anticipation.

"The pride of the kingdom! The steed of kings! Go, Gallop!"

The Pokemon commanded by the prince was a Rapidash, but what Green immediately noticed was that its flames weren't their natural color, instead being dark gray. Red also realized that there was something wrong with how the Pokemon looked after he checked its data in his Pokedex.

"Why is it different?"

"It's one of the extremely rare, shiny Pokemon. The color of his flames doesn't influence his abilities in any way, but he's still the fastest Rapidash in the whole kingdom. Now, enough of talking. Call out your Pokemon so that we can get this over with."

"Okay."

"Charmander and Oddish would be bad match ups. Unless he has a fifth Pokemon his only choice is to go with Eevee. This way it'll become a battle of speed." Green was analyzing his rival's options under his breath.

"I choose Magikarp!" announced Red.

The fish Pokemon appeared out of its pokeball and started happily jumping around on the deck. Some people started laughing at Red's choice. Jon Quille wanted to join them but managed to stop himself because he didn't want to humiliate his opponent more than it was needed.

"Red, what are you doing? Just because he's a water Pokemon doesn't mean that he has any advantage! This isn't the time to try to prove something!" Green was getting annoyed by Red's nonchalant behavior.

"Don't worry. I never go into a battle without a plan."

Unbeknownst to either Red or Green, one of the people who were watching the whole situation was the girl they met earlier that day. At first she didn't care since she was on the opposite side of the pool, sunbathing in her bikini and with her hair down, but since people started gathering near where she was, there was too much shadow for her to get a tan and the noise of cheering and laughing also didn't help. That's why she decided to stand up and see what the whole commotion was about.

"It's those fish people. Hmm... That other guy... He looks like someone I should like try to talk to. After he beats that other guy."

"Will you be our judge, Green?" Red asked his friend.

"I... Alright. But you better win this." he answered while reluctantly standing next to a rail and rising his hand into the air "Fight!" he yelled while swinging that hand down.

"Flame Charge!" the prince didn't want to give his foe any time to react.

Rapidash's flames began to envelop all of his body besides the hoofs as he ran towards the fish Pokemon. Green moved as far back as he could to avoid getting burned. Meanwhile, Red waited patiently for an opportunity.

"Splash!"

After receiving his command, Magikarp quickly jumped a little, only to hit the floor with his tail and use it like a springboard to launch himself high into the air. Rapidash was moving too fast so when his opponent flew through the air and over him, the fire Pokemon couldn't stop itself before hitting the stairs leading to a higher deck. The only thing he could think of doing was to turn off its fire to avoid doing damage to the ship.

As he was about to crush into the stairs, the prince yelled out "Just slide!"

Listening to his trainer, the horse Pokemon turned sideways and while scratching the wooden floor with his hoofs, managed to completely turn himself around and use his hind legs to kick itself off the stairs and begin running in the opposite direction, towards the Magikarp who was still hanging mid-air after his jump. At that speed, Jon was sure that Rapidash would hit its target, but it was too late to activate Flame Charge a second time so he went with a different option.

"Megahorn!"

The horn on Rapidash's head began to glow with a dazzling light. It looked like he was about to impale the fish Pokemon.

"Splash!"

The moment the attack reached him, Magikarp managed to wiggle his body in such a way that it barely scraped his skin. He was still hurt, but he managed to avoid the brunt of the attack and continue on his downward path towards the floor. During the time Rapidash had to run to towards his trainer and comfortably spin around, Magikarp managed to convince himself to get through the pain he felt and assumed what could be interpreted as a fighting stance.

Green was closely observing the fight, trying to think what he would do if he was in Red's position. Meanwhile, his rival seemed busy with something else. Instead of focusing on the Rapidash who was again charging at his buddy, he was looking towards the crowd on the other side of the pool, his face showing that he was in deep thought.

"Okay. This should work." he said to himself before thrusting forward his right hand "Magikarp, attack from the left!"

"Attack?!" Green blurted out in surprise "What is he expecting to happen?"

Magikarp listened to its trainer and attacked in the only way it knew to, by jumping towards the opponent, but in the way it was ordered to, from the side. Without needing any command from Jon, Rapidash knew to fend off the offensive by lowering his head and using his horn to scoop up the opponent. Neither the fire Pokemon nor its trainer could suspect that Red already predicted that response and, to at least some degree, calculated where it would send Magikarp.

"Let's see if this works out." Red whispered "Magikarp, bounce off the floor!"

When the crowd saw that the Pokemon was plummeting towards them, they quickly started running away. The girl the boys met earlier was the only one who didn't get a chance to get to safety because she was knocked over by somebody in the commotion. This caused her to get the first row seat in the spectacle that was about to begin. Right before Magikarp hit the floor in front of her, a weird blue substance, similar to hair gel, enveloped its body. As soon as the Pokemon's body hit the wood, it seemed to disappear. A silence fell over everybody as they were trying to decipher what exactly happened.

The girl was probably the most shocked out of everybody, since she was the closest to Magikarp and still couldn't tell where it disappeared to. She tried to get some clues by looking at Red. She felt her heart speed up and heard the audible sound of her own gulping when she saw that the smile and the eyes of the boy were showing his undeniable confidence. Meanwhile, almost everybody else, including Jon and his Rapidash, were looking around, as if Magikarp somehow hid somewhere and was about to pop up any moment. They weren't that far from the truth. Suddenly, a strong gust of wind hit everybody, making some of them close their eyes. When Jon turned his eyes towards his Pokemon, he saw that it was about to fall to the floor as if it was hit by something, although the Magikarp was still nowhere to be seen. At that point, Green was the first one to figure out what was happening.

"That son of a gun..." he said under his breath while looking at something in the sky.

The girl noticed that and, following his example, also gazed upwards. That didn't help a lot. Instead, she was even more confused when she saw a cloud that seemed to have been pierced by something two times.

"Gallop! Are you okay?!" Jon was so afraid after seeing that his Pokemon was hurt so much that he couldn't begin to stand up, that he ran to him and without caring about being hurt by the flames, began to hug him.

Red looked at that scene for about a second before looking up and muttering "I really hope he'll change his path."

Suddenly, the wind blew again, and almost at the same time, something caused the water in the pool to rise up high above it and to splash everybody around. Having only a fraction of a second to react, the prince somehow managed to place Gallop back in its pokeball. The water fell down, causing what seemed like a short rain. Although some people were yelling in confusion during it all, after the water calmed down, they fell silent again.

"The winner is Red!" announced Green.

After hearing those words, people began to realize, one by one, that what caused the water in the pool to rise was none other than Magikarp. The prince looked at his opponent's Pokemon with a shocked face before realizing that him recalling Gallop, even if it hasn't fainted, meant that lost. The crowd arrived at the same conclusion which was signaled by them starting to loudly cheer for Red and his Magikarp. The teenager kneeled down beside the pool. Seeing that, his partner happily swam towards him. When he was close enough, the boy lifted him up and hugged while praising him "You did a great job!"

Red stopped and put Magikarp on the floor when he realized that Jon came up to him.

"I know that I lost, but even worse than that is the fact that I have no idea how it happened. I... Could you explain?"

"I can do that." stated Green, who was also approaching them.

The prince gave a gesture that was meant to tell "Go ahead."

"Although most Magikarps learn only Tackle and Splash, when trained appropriately, some of them can learn the move bounce. I didn't think about it earlier, but it seems that after getting the Magikarp from the captain, Red studied it and arrived at the conclusion that since the captain deemed it to be a rare Pokemon and it wasn't a rare species, there must have been some other thing about it that was unusual. And the move Bounce was the only logical conclusion. I wonder if it was owned by someone or whether it learned the move in the wild... But that's beside the point. Red predicted where Rapidash would send Magikarp if he attacked it from the side and by saying "bounce of the floor", he hoped that Magikarp would know to use that move. And it did. It flew so high that it parted the clouds." at that point of his explanation, he pointed towards the sky.

The prince just then saw the cloud riddled with holes, although it was beginning to disappear.

"The first time, it hit your Rapidash. After that, you hugged your Pokemon so Magikarp decided to avoid hitting you by landing in the pool. Even with Bounce, it couldn't stop itself after hitting the water. And that's the story."

"I feel so stupid that I didn't realize your plan... It seems like the name "Idiot Prince" will fit me well." Jon lamented over his fate while lowering his head.

"You know I only joked?"

"What?" the prince looked up towards Red from whom came the words.

"There's nothing legal that would mean you would have to change your name after losing to me."

The prince looked offended "It's not about legality! It's about honor! You can't stop me! I will change my name to Idiot Prince the moment we reach land!"

"I... I didn't actually beat you. Your Rapidash was still able to fight. Let's just say that I get to call you "Idiot Prince" and we'll be square. From the beginning, it wasn't about changing your name but about seeing you being humble."

"No!" the prince yelled "I won't change my mind!"

"Gah! I won't change my mind either!" Red was beginning to get worked up.

"Yeah?!"

"Yeah!"

"Then maybe we should settle this in a Pokemon fight!"

"That would be my pleasure!"

Suddenly, both of them stopped and after a few moments of silence, they began laughing aloud. Green smiled at that scene, seeing how similar those two actually were, if one looked past who they were on the outside.

"All this made me hungry again." stated Red.

"Then we should get something to eat together." decided Jon.

"Oh yeah. There's this amazing restaurant here. Hey, Green. You coming with us?"

"Sure. After that whole thing, they'll probably have to clean up this place." responded his rival.

Red sent Magikarp back to his pokeball after praising it once again. As they were getting ready to depart, the three of them felt obliged to wave towards the crowd who were once again cheering them on. After walking into the corridor, all the voices went quiet, so it was all the more surprising when they heard someone shout "Wait!"

All of them turned around and saw the girl from before. She must have ran after them, judging by her unregular breathing. Her face was completely red but it also looked as if she was dead set on something she decided.

"Yes?" asked Red.

"Like, can I come with you?" she asked.

It took all of her power to get through the embarrassment she felt after her harsh judgement of the boys and her newfound admiration for Red. She was averting her gaze, afraid that their eyes would meet.

"Sure." he responded without hesitation.

She looked up, full of joy and ready to say something, but then she noticed that the trainer was pointing towards her body.

"But you should put something on." Red added.

After realizing that she was still wearing only her bikini, she became shy once again, and quickly went into one of the side corridors with only her head sticking out from behind the wall.

"Wait a bit. I'll go get my bag." she said, before disappearing completely.

"Weird girl." commented Jon.

. . .

Sometime later, on the same sea, the mysterious man travelling on his own, was beginning to get ready for the evening. He started by putting on a dark purple suit with a top hat in the same color, and gloves and boots in a slightly lighter shade. He also had a cape which was tucked through his belt in such away that it could sway in the wind but wouldn't obstruct what he was about to do next. He lightly patted himself on the back, causing a pair of two blue wings to emerge from under the cape. After checking the pokeballs and a small bag, both attached to his belt, he was ready to take off his sunglasses and replace them with a domino mask in the color of his suit, but with white lenses that hid the color of his eyes.

After looking at some screen inside his boat, he went outside and stretched his arms a little "The wind is good. Now the only thing left is to wait a little bit."

Soon after that, just as he expected, a flock of Farfetch'ds were flying over the area where he stopped his boat. It was the end of summer so the flying type Pokemon living around the coast of Kanto could be expected to begin their flight towards warmer regions. Those that lived more inland wouldn't usually bother with that and would just try to bear the upcoming cold in the next half of the year. Knowing that this would happen, the man analyzed wind patterns since the flying Pokemon could also sense them and use wind currents to speed up their flight. This assured him that some would fly right over him.

"Okay. Let's go." he said and the wings extending from his back immediately began to move up and down, lifting him into the air.

After a short while, he was flying right behind the flock of birds, although making sure that he didn't get in the way of their formation.

At the same time, in the radar room of St. Anne, a group of sailors was keenly observing the various screens, making sure that they could alarm the captain if any abnormality appeared. The one they were on the lookout for was, of course, Phantom Venin.

"I've got something!" one of them announced.

Some of the other ones looked at his screen, while most stayed glued to their own, trying to see what he was talking about.

"It's just a flock of some of Pokemon." stated the highest ranked one "We can't get distracted by stuff like this."

"I'm sorry. This won't happen again." said the one who made the announcement.

If only his boss was careful enough to check up on that unsuspicious flock of birds, he would have seen that the one they were searching for was, in fact, among the said flock.

"We're almost over St. Anne." the thief said, seemingly to himself "It's time for my next trick."

After saying that, he took one of his pokeballs and making sure that it appeared in his hand, which would help hold it up, he called out an Abra. The psychic Pokemon knew the plan, since Phantom Venin went over it several times with each of his Pokemon, but it still turned his head to see his face and make sure that it was the right time. Another reason was to choose a specific location. Realizing what the Pokemon wanted, the man pointed towards a part of the roof that seemed to not have any people watching it and would be easy to get off.

Following his owner's finger, the psychic Pokemon zeroed in the right place and focused his mind. Before the Phantom could tell, he was already standing on the roof, thanks to Abra's Teleportation. It was important to use the bird Pokemon to get closer to the ship since Abra's powers had a limited range, but the psychic Pokemon still executed his role masterfully.

"Great job. Remember that you still have a job to do." the thief said before calling the Pokemon back into its ball.

In a couple quick movements, the criminal took off his mask and folded his top hat before putting them both in his bag. By tapping on his back, he caused the wings to retract under the cape. He took out a couple vials with colorful substances. Just a drop of each of them changed his suit to black, his cape and gloves to white, and his hair to dirty blonde. He took out a small comb and used it to make his hair more slick. He also prepared an artificial petit goatee and a fake mole which he put under his left eye. By doing those things, he made himself look like a famous collector from a faraway land whom he had kidnapped and left under the care of his associates as soon as that person landed in Kanto. Since he was busy with another heist at the same time, he couldn't get his hands at the ticket and had to do the whole thing the hard way.

After checking how he looked in a small mirror in comparison to a photo of the person he was masquerading as, he jumped off the roof. Although he was careful not to be seen by anybody, just as he landed a door opened behind him. From inside came no one other than Red and his companions who were done with their meal, after having to wait for it a long time, and were trying to find something fun to do till the beginning of the auction. Seeing the man in suit kneeling and blocking his way, Red looked rather confused. At the same time, the impostor was getting anxious, thinking that his cover might have just been blown if they saw him jump from the roof.

"Uhh... Could you move?" asked the boy from Viridian City.

"What?" the thief was surprised.

"You're blocking our way." Green spoke up.

"Oh, of course. I was just looking for something I dropped but I already got it." he responded, trying to hide his nervousness, while standing up.

"Oh. Okay then." Red said before passing the man by "Anyway, what do you think we should do now?"

. . .

"I want to check on Gallop." answered the prince, who left his Pokemon, at a Pokemon Center located on the ship, before going to the restaurant with others.

"Oh. Then maybe you could like show me your other Pokemon once we're there? I overheard some kid talking about a playground area for Pokemon." said the girl.

"Good idea, Fille." Red responded, having learned her name during their conversation at the restaurant.

After the group left, Phantom Venin stood there for a short while, astonished that he wasn't found out, before he decided to find a place to lay low till the auction.

"Your Pokemon is completely healed."

"Thank you."

Jon took a small bow as he took the pokeball from the nurse. After that, he took a few steps back before throwing it into the air to see his Pokemon. After being released, the Rapidash stood in front of its trainer, with its eyes closed for a short while, before opening them and letting out neigh. The prince stepped forward and started caressing its head without speaking a word. After he was done, he, in the same silent manner, put it back in its pokeball.

"Everything's fine. We can go to that playground area." he said to the rest of the group after turning around.

"Like, how is it that Rapidash's mane didn't burn your hand?" Fille asked, rather curious.

"If it's not in the middle of a battle, Gallop can make it so his flames don't burn anything. Otherwise it would be pretty hard to take care of him. His fire is essentially like normal hair. I groom it every day and trim its mane and tail when they get too big." the prince explained.

After stepping into a room adjacent to the one where the healing machine was placed, they saw that it was a spacious place with fake grass, an area filled with sand, a couple ponds, small fruit trees, pillows, chew toys and various posts and obstacles for flying Pokemon. Here and there were some kids and occasional adults playing with their Pokemon, but the space was mostly empty.

"I guess that most rich people don't bother to own Pokemon." Green commented.

"Well..." Jon wanted to find a good excuse but came up empty-handed "...Yeah. Even in my family, my mother is the only one besides me who has a personal Pokemon. We have mail birds, various Pokemon at the stables, grass Pokemon for preparing herbs and the guards have their own ones but besides that... Everybody in my family has to learn how to ride a Ponyta or a Rapidash. During my training I got so close to Gallop that my father allowed me to keep it as my personal steed. But enough about me. Fille wanted to see your Pokemon."

"Oh, yes. Please do." the girl said while bowing.

She was a little embarrassed by the fact that she was the only one among them that didn't have even one Pokemon.

"Her change in attitude still seems suspicious to me." Green whispered so that only Red could hear him.

"But you have no problem with trusting me."

"Well, yeah. You seem kinda less..."

"Uhh? "Less" what?"

"I don't know. Just "less"."

"Oi." Red said in a louder voice while giving Green a light chop to his chest.

"Like, what are you doing?" Fille asked, and the boys immediately realized that the other two have been staring at them with confused faces.

"Riiight. So... Pokemon. Do you want to see them one by one or..." Red tried to play off the whole thing that just happened.

"If you can, show them all at once." the girl answered.

"Alright." Red replied before he began to detach the pokeballs one by one till he had them all in his hands and could throw them up, releasing all of his Pokemon "Come out, my buddies!"

In one moment, the area around Red was filled by his companions. Fille was quickly looking at them one by one, not having time to focus on any for longer than a short while, since she was interested in all of them. The first thing Eevee did was, of course, he ran to his trainer's leg and started cuddling against it. Oddish was asleep. Pikachu was eyeing up the humans it didn't recognize, with a suspicious expression on his face. Magikarp was jumping around happily while Charmander tried to slowly approach it, curious about who this new arrival was.

"Calm down, everybody." Red ordered them in a nice tone.

After hearing that, all of them besides the sleeping Oddish and the Magikarp, got into a line in front of their trainer.

"This here is a new addition to our group. It's a Magikarp. Make sure to be nice to him."

While Charmander and Pikachu had shown their obedience by lightly nodding, Eevee decided to immediately get acquainted with Magikarp by trying to high five it, but because of the fish's slipperiness, he fell. All of them, including Eevee, found that funny and started laughing.

"Besides wanting you to meet Magikarp, I wanted to show you to our new... friends." Red said while gesturing towards Jon and Fille.

Eevee immediately got up and ran towards the girl who couldn't stop herself from petting it after seeing how cute it was.

When those introductions were done, Green stepped forward while holding all the pokeballs containing his team "Guess it's my turn."

"Go ahead." said Jon, seeing as Fille was still busy with the dog Pokemon.

"Everybody, it's time to take the stage!" Green shouted before releasing his team in the same way as Red did before with his.

The one that stood out the most was Hitmonlee, who did a few spins and kicks in mid-air before landing next to other ones who were calmly waiting on the floor for any potential orders. Ivysaur was quick to realize what was happening. As a sign of that, he gave his trainer a look to make sure. Green nodded, after which Ivysaur slowly let out two vines which travelled to Jon's and Fille's hands to give them his equivalent of a handshake.

"Such good manners." the prince commented during the greeting.

"Y-Yeah." Fille tried to hide that she was a little creeped out by the texture of the vine.

After that, Jigglypuff tried to impress everybody by rolling around but it was not careful enough and didn't notice the sleeping Oddish till it was too late. Not only did it wake him up, but caused it to go flying. Fortunately, Ivysaur was fast enough and caught it with its vines before it hit the floor. Oddish opened its eyes for a couple seconds and looked around before deciding on going back to sleep. Out of the whole group, Nidorina seemed the shyest as she didn't do anything to accommodate the curiosity of Jon and Fille. While the girl tried to convince it to play with her, the prince observed as Charmander approached Ivysaur. They both had something like an air of mutual respect about them.

"What's the meaning behind that?" he asked.

"Both of these Pokemon belonged to my grandpa before we got them so they know each other fairly well. They still haven't fought against one another so I imagine there's a lot of curiosity about who would win. I can't lie. I would also like to learn that." during the last words, Green gave Red a confident smile.

"Do you wanna go?"

"Not today." Green stopped him "Okay, everyone. It's time to go back to your pokeballs."

One by one, Pokemon started disappearing into the spheres. Red started doing the same with his.

"Whaaat?" Fille said in a disappointed voice while holding the sleeping Oddish in her arms.

"We agreed to show you our Pokemon but we can't spend too much time playing around and risk getting them injured." Green explained in a monotone voice as the last of his Pokemon went into its ball.

"Why is that?" Jon was a little confused by that statement.

"I..." Red stopped himself "Wait. Can we talk about this?'"

Green shrugged. Taking that as a "yes", Red gestured for Jon and Fille to get closer, so he could whisper to them.

"The thing is, we were hired as additional security to protect the Crystal Eye from a thief called Phantom Venin."

"Phantom Ven...!" Fille stated, before Red could cover her mouth with his hand.

"I think we are supposed to keep this a secret. I'm not entirely sure. But that's why we have to preserve the strength of our Pokemon. That Phantom guy is supposed to steal the gem at 9 p.m. but we have to constantly be on the lookout for him since he may very well already be aboard. Wait... What's thaaaa... Ewww!"

Red jerked his hand away when he realized that Fille was licking his palm.

"Why did you do that?"

"Like, I wanted you to get it off and my own hands were busy with holding Oddish." she explained, a little annoyed at his disgusted reaction.

"Oh, right. Oddish still wasn't in his ball." Red realized as he was wiping Fille's saliva on his pants, much to Jon's distaste.

"Waaaaait." Fille tried to be as loud as she could be without screaming.

"What is it this time?" Red stopped with a pokeball in his hand.

"Like, can I keep him?" she said while bringing Oddish closer to her face.

"Can you... What? No, you can't keep him!"

"I don't mean for like forever. Just till this cruise is over."

"I..." after looking into her eyes full of hope, Red couldn't bring himself to refuse "I'm probably going to regret this but okay. Just one thing."

The boy walked up to her and tugged on one of Oddish's leaves to wake him up. The Pokemon yawned before looking at its trainer to see what he wanted.

"I want you stay with Fille for now." Red explained while pointing to the girl "If she gets in trouble, you will have to protect her."

Oddish smiled and went to sleep. Fille seemed happy, but the boy wasn't sure if the Pokemon understood what he told him to do.

"We still have a couple hours. Do you have anything else in mind?" Green asked.

"We could go to the restaurant again..." Red pondered with a focused expression.

"How much do you eat anyway?" the prince looked a little afraid.

"What about y..." Green wanted to ask Fille but she was too busy with poking Oddish's face "Okay. I guess I'll decide. I heard that they have bars with pool tables and darts. We can search for one and once we are there, we'll see how it goes from there."

. . .

Since the time of the auction was nearing, Red and Green split up from the other two and all of them went to their rooms to get dressed in clothes more suited for the evening party, although Red wasn't sure what that meant in Jon's case. When the boys arrived in their accommodation, they noticed packages on both of their beds. After looking inside, they realized that they contained the suits which captain sent someone to rent earlier in the day. Red immediately started taking off his clothes, beginning with his hat and followed by the jacket.

"Wait up!" Green stopped him.

"Why? What's going on?"

"Have some decency. We may both be males but I don't want to see you in your underwear."

"Wait, what?"

"Go to the bathroom." Green demanded while pointing to the door.

"Okay. Geez."

After a couple minutes, Green was done with getting into his suit. It was a fairly plain, black one but it still made him look good and more fit for the occasion. When Red didn't return for some time, he started worrying about him and decided to knock on the door.

"Are you doing okay?"

"I'm just having problems with my tie. I never wore one."

"Alright. Let me help you." Green said before going inside.

He looked at his friend from feet up to his head, and had to take a step back and grab onto something. Although he wouldn't have ever said it, he was astonished by how natural Red looked in a suit. Added was the fact that Red wasn't wearing his hat and had combed hair.

"Are you okay?"

"Yeah." Green gathered himself, before going over to Red and helping him with the tie "Not too tight?"

"No. I think it's fine." he answered after checking himself in the window "But this still doesn't feel right."

"What do you..."

Before Green could finish, Red put both hands into his hair and messed it up, before reaching for his hat, which was placed on the sink, and putting it on.

"It wouldn't feel right without this."

. . .

The boys arrived a little early, but Jon was already waiting for them in front of the auction room, checking his watch. This time, the colors of his clothes were kind of reversed, since he was wearing a white suit with a red shirt underneath. His shoes were also white.

"Did you wait for long?" asked Red.

"No. Don't worry. Besides, there already many people waiting for the doors to open." the prince answered while looking at the crowd gathered around them.

"Wow. That guy over there has like 20 women with him." Red commented.

"18 to be precise." stated Jon "He's Rajul Muhimiun, the king of Rimal Hara Kingdom. In that part of the world it's very common for people to have multiple wives. It's pretty much allowed everywhere but people rarely do it because the law states that each wife, or husband if it's a woman with multiple partners, has to be a citizen of a different region or kingdom. Which means that each of these women had to travel from far away, possibly leaving their families, so they could stay with the king."

"18 wives seems like a scary thought." stated Green.

"Yeah. Even 2 would be too much for me." added Red.

"You want to have a wife?" his rival wondered.

"I mean... I don't have any plans right now but if there's a right time and a right person then yeah."

"Hey guys." a familiar voice interrupted them.

When they looked in the direction from which it came from, they saw Fille, wearing a bright yellow dress, reaching the floor, but with a thigh high slit which left one of her legs completely revealed. The dress was strapless and adorned with a sewn flower. She wore fairly high heels and her hair was stylishly arranged, with a small, silver decoration placed in it. She was holding onto one of Oddish's leaves, carrying him with one hand, and the sleeping Pokemon didn't seem to mind it much.

"You look more beautiful than the fairest flower in Fleurland." Jon commented before placing his lips upon her hand.

"Oh. Thanks." the girl was a little surprised but not dissatisfied with such a gesture, although there was person about whose opinion she cared more "What do you think, Red?"

"It looks nice." he answered while giving her a slight smile.

. . .

In another part of the ship, the chef whose restaurant was visited by Red twice that day was getting done with enjoying his cigarette, while admiring the sun which would soon set. He made sure to extinguish it in a nearby ashtray instead of throwing it in the sea, like many of the rich types aboard the ship preferred to do. When he returned to his restaurant, the lights were on but the place was completely empty. That was to be expected since all the passengers went to the auction. He still couldn't just take a break, and had to be ready for anything. But nothing could prepare him for what came next. As he went back into the kitchen, he noticed that it seemed eerily quiet. When he went a little further in, he found most of the people working under him unconscious and tied up. Before he could react in any way, something hard hit him in the head and he collapsed onto the floor.

. . .

"Excuse me?"

Blue, who was absorbed in a book, while sitting in the Pokemon Center lobby, had to stop and put a paper bookmark inside before she could look up to see whom the voice belonged to. It turned out to be a young women with a friendly demeanor.

"Yes?"

"I was just wondering if you would like to join us for our weekly movie party."

Blue didn't completely understand that sentence "A what now?"

"It's a get-together organized by Lt. Surge. Each week, anywhere up to 200 people gather together to watch movies which he plays on the side of his Gym. We do a vote a week before and choose one of the movies, while the other one is chosen by Lt. Surge himself."

"I met him earlier today and fought to get the Thunder badge, but I don't really know him well enough... Did he invite me?"

"No. I mean... Not you specifically. But each weak he makes sure to send me to invite any people from out of town who are at the Pokemon Center."

"But..." Blue was still unsure how to feel about it, since she would be going there alone, and wanted to find some excuse not to do it because she didn't want to outright refuse "...Isn't there a curfew? If the movies go too lo..."

"Don't worry about that. The head nurse also will be attending this event, so if it goes too long, she will let you in even after curfew."

Blue was still going in her head over any options, but seeing the genuine hope on the woman's face, she finally broke under pressure and responded "Okay. I'll come."

"That's great. I still have to go around and ask a couple people so let's meet by the front door in about... 8 minutes?"

"Alright." while saying that, Blue tried to put on the best smile she could.

. . .

A little later, back on St. Anne, the crowd around the auction room was getting smaller as more and more people were going inside. The place was a lot bigger than one would suspect from the outside. It was arranged in a weird way where it seemed like the only people who got tables to themselves were the richest ones, although they were placed far from the stage where the items for sale were to be presented. Closer to the stage, there was an area with long tables full of food up against the walls, and a big space for people to stand. Multiple waiters were, at any given moment, travelling through that area and offering various drinks to the guests. The place closest to the stage was a couple steps down and had around 10 rows of chairs.

Red and his friends were walking through the room and decided to, for at least some time, stop in the middle part. It made sense to them that if they were sitting somewhere in the front or with Fille's father or Jon's family in the back, they would be slower to react to whatever Phantom Venin had planned.

"Could I interest any of you sirs or madam in a drink?" one of the waiters asked while bowing appropriately in front of their group.

"A champagne, please." Jon was the first to respond.

"Do you have any juice?" Red was not used to those kinds of events, so he was a little afraid to make a fool of himself.

"We do. Apple, orange, grape, peach..."

"Orange is fine." Red stopped the waiter before he could list probably another 20 types of juices.

Fille felt a little doubtful if she should choose what she wanted, not wanting to look bad in Red's eyes. She didn't fully understand why his opinion would matter so much to her, but nevertheless, she let it influence her "For me, just a water."

"I'll take some medium sweet red wine." stated Green.

Everyone besides the waiter, looked at him with a little shock. Thankfully, the man had all the things they wanted on his tray so he handed them out and left, leaving the group in awe of what Green just did.

"Aren't you a little too young for that?" the prince asked.

"Yeah. That's what I've been wondering." added Red.

Green stirred the wine and sniffed it before taking a sip, after which he looked at the astonished faces of his companions "My grandpa wanted me to grow up to be... "a fine man" is what I guess you would say. He let me try various types of alcohol he had in his cellar to make sure that I wouldn't be a person who gets pressured by people to try like a beer or something. And I found out that from all types of alcohol I like wine the best. Now I'm at the point where I won't go to a party to get drunk, but have no problem with drinking some wine every now and then for my enjoyment. I don't think I would become an alcoholic without this type of preparation but I'm thankful to my grandpa anyway."

"Weird. I never tried any alcohol because they all smell weird." stated Red.

"And that's fine." interjected Jon "No one should feel bad about liking or disliking alcohol. I mean, alcoholism isn't a good thing but if people just go about things the right way, everything should be alright."

The whole conversation made Fille feel stupid about getting the water instead of the drink she wanted to order.

While all this was going, the disguised Phantom Venin was right outside of the room, observing the people walking inside, making sure that there was no passengers left wandering the corridors of the ship, who would be able to see what he was planning to do. Although a couple members of security were standing beside the doors of the auction room, the crowd was too big for them to notice him slipping away. The last couple hours weren't wasted. Using a couple tricks connected to his Pokemon's abilities, he managed to gain knowledge needed to execute his plan. After finding a good spot, he squatted down and took out two of his pokeballs. The Pokemon called out by him were a Gastly and a Porygon.

"You know what your roles are?" he asked them.

Porygon gave out a couple short, screeching noises while Gastly nodded.

"Alright. Remember, by my calculations the Crystal Eye will go up for auction at around 9 o'clock. I know that since he received my message, the captain will try to keep things quick and make sure that it's there, since his type of people think that somehow an item at display is harder to steal than one in storage. But, no matter what happens, there is no way for me contact you so just do your part. If the gem is sold too fast, the rest of us will deal with it and what you'll be doing could still help us. That's all. Go."

After hearing him out, Gastly turned invisible and probably flew off while Porygon walked over to an electrical outlet and let itself be sucked into it.

"Now that this is done, I can go to the auction and wait for the right time."

While walking there, the thief was thinking about how lucky he was that the captain decided not to an additional ticket check at the auction room doors, probably because he was afraid of offending any guests.

. . .

The auction was going for almost two hours and it was almost time for the Crystal Eye to be brought onto the stage. Although the group took a couple breaks to sit down and have a chat, Red and Green decided that from that point on they should make sure to be on full alert. Just as they were returning to the middle area, leaving Fille and Jon alone at a table, since their parents fathers seemed to take a liking to each other and sat together, they ran into a familiar face.

"Hey, Michael. How's it going?' Red asked the sailor after seeing him smuggling appetizers into his pockets.

"Oh. It's you, guys." it was slightly hard to decipher what he was saying since his mouth was full of various cheeses and meats.

After noticing that he had trouble swallowing it, Green handed him his third, half-full, wine glass. After emptying it completely, the man let out a sigh of relief.

"Thanks a lot." he said while handing the glass back to the teenager.

Surprised by that, Green was unsure about what to do with it, for a short while, until he saw a passing waiter and agilely placed it on the plate that person was carrying, without them noticing.

"So, did you spot anyone suspicious yet?" the sailor asked them.

"Wait. You know about this whole... Phantom thing?" Red was taken aback.

"I should. I'm part of the security detail. We must have missed each other at the entrance to this room since I was busy with some other stuff, but I stood by the doors for quite some time, eyeing up everybody. But I didn't find anyone suspicious."

"But what about now? You left your post?"

"Don't worry. I told one of the new guys to take my place since I was so busy that I didn't get to eat anything for a couple hours. All the restaurants are most likely closed so I decided to go in here. But I'm not allowed to actually eat any of this food so keep this from the captain."

Something that he said sparked Red's interest "What do you mean by "one of the new guys"?"

"A lot of the security guys got a flu or something so we had to hire new guys like a week ago."

"That seems suspicious. What if one of them is Phantom Venin in disguise?" Green spoke up.

"I thought about that. I checked each of them personally. The Phantom is supposed to be a slim guy and those are mostly muscular types, some overweight ones, and one woman. I made sure anyway by trying to pinch their cheeks but none of them was wearing a mask." Michael explained.

Red was in deep thought, which slightly worried the other two.

"Does the Phantom usually work alone?" he asked finally.

"If our information is right, he sometimes has one or two people helping him, but most of the heists he does are solo. Why? Did you come up with something?"

"No... I... I'm probably wrong..." Red didn't want to jump to conclusions based only on his assumptions.

"You never know. If what you are thinking about turned out to be helpf..." Michael stopped himself as both he and the teenagers noticed that most of the light in the room went dark.

The three of them turned their attention to the stage where the auctioneer was getting ready to make an announcement. He was not the only person there since he was accompanied by two members of the security. Red looked around after noticing that more and more people were moving towards the stage. He thought he caught a glimpse of Fille's father.

"We should also move up." decided Green.

Not realizing that Michael stayed behind, the boys moved through the crowd so that they were standing next to the fifth row from the stage.

"Ladies and Gentlemen!" the auctioneer shouted into his mic which surely must have had its volume turned up for the auction of this specific object "This is what most of you probably came here for! One of the most sought after gems in the entire world! Although the previous owner refused to sell it to anyone during his lifetime, his will stated that he wanted it to be auctioned off after his passing, with all the profits going to charity! Some tales say that it's a clue to the existence of an ancient underwater civilization! Other say that it's an object left on earth by extraterrestrial beings! The most popular rumor is that it lets its owner see the future! If you want to learn its secrets, you will have to put a price on this previously priceless object! Here! It! Is! Crystaaaaal... Eyeeeee!"

As the man finished his speech, all the lights turned towards a spot on the middle of the stage. The floor opened, revealing a rising pedestal with a glass cover, with the Crystal Eye, a most beautiful, blue gem laying on a small red pillow. Green assumed in his mind that the glass was reinforced so that someone wouldn't be able to smash it, which meant that there probably was some kind of precaution that would prevent someone from even touching the cover unless they inputted the right code in the electronic pad attached o the pedestal. Green was thinking of ways that one could avoid touching the glass. There was probably a gap between the glass and the stone of which the pedestal was made but only something the size of a string could fit inside.

"Maybe the captain was worrying about no..." Green started talking to Red, but stopped as the room suddenly went completely dark.

Somewhere in the room, Phantom Venin, having rehearsed what he was going to do, managed to put on his mask and top hat, take off the fake facial features, and change back to his signature colors and natural hair, all in a matter of seconds, before he said to himself "It's showtime."

"What's going on?!" yelled out the auctioneer.

As if in response to him, the spotlights started moving around and flickering while the speakers started playing some kind of quick yet oddly menacing jazz music. The whole thing lasted for around 20 seconds, and most of the people took it as just some sort of spectacle. By catching quick glimpses of sailors who were the security detail, Green judged that this was definitely not a planned thing. Before he could come up with any idea on what to do, the music stopped as suddenly as it began. At the same time, all the lights turned back on, blinding the people for a short while. When they opened their eyes, everybody turned their attention towards the pedestal only to realize that Phantom Venin was standing right next to it, holding the Crystal Eye in his hand while smiling triumphally.

"Well? How was it? Did you like my little magic show?"

All of the people in the room were too shocked to answer or to even move. The auctioneer was staring at the thief for a second before he came back to his senses "Security, what are you doing?! Catch him!"

The two other men on stage ran towards the criminal, but as they got close, his wings emerged from under the cape and by doing a full spin with his body, he caused a wind which carried both of them off the stage and onto the hard floor beneath.

"That's not nice." he said in a sarcastic voice "You should wait until I receive my applause."

As if influenced by his words, somebody in the front row started clapping his hands. One by one, other people joined in, until a moment where almost everybody was doing it. When Green caught Red doing it, he became quite irritated.

"Oh. Sorry."

"Don't "sorry" me. We need to take back the Crystal Eye."

"Don't you find it weird?" Red asked.

"What do you mean?"

"Look around."

Green did just that, hoping to find whatever his friend was referring to. His face went white when he realized that the other security members placed in the room were just standing around and doing nothing. Some of them even looked weirdly happy with the situation.

"Something is wrong." the voice came from Michael who managed to catch up to them "I used my communicator to tell the other guys to do something but none of them answered. Not the ones here. Not the ones outside."

As if things weren't hectic enough, a loud noise came from behind them. As the trio turned around to see what was going on, they witnessed a group of people in what looked like gray, futuristic army uniforms, come inside the room. They weren't alone. They were surrounded by a group of various Pokemon; mostly Machokes and Machops but also a Venonat, an Exeggcute, and Exeggutor, a Slowpoke, a Chansey and a Beedrill. One of them, a beautiful woman with long, white hair, stepped out from the group and spoke through a megaphone "Ehm. We are the Darkness Gang. We come here to take all the precious items that are up for auction or have already been sold. First off, I urge you stay where you are and not make any suspicious movements unless you want to get hurt. We have our members everywhere in this room."

As she said that, all the sailors who were in the room as security, besides Michael, took off of their caps and threw them to the floor which seemed to signify their allegiance.

"Secondly, I would like to extend our thanks to Phantom Venin. Having learned that you planned to steal the Crystal Eye, we decided to use you, since we didn't know what measures were taken to protect the gem."

"My, my. You sure are greedy." the thief spoke through the microphone he took from the auctioneer "You had all these riches but you still waited for my arrival just so you could get the Crystal Eye."

"It is priceless after all." the woman responded.

"It is." the Phantom agreed "You know what else it is?"

"What?"

"Mine." right as he said those words, the thief swiftly threw a smoke pellet which he got from his bag, and used it to dive behind the curtains.

A couple of the fake sailors were ready to rush towards the stage but the moment they tried to move, all of them quickly fell down, which knocked them out. Green looked towards the one closest to him and realized that some white substance caused the shoes of those men to stick to the floor.

"Damn it!" the woman leading Darkness Gang yelled out "What are you waiting for?! Go after him!"

A couple members of her group and their Machops and Machokes started running towards the stage, knocking back anyone who stood in their way. Red and Green looked at each other to make sure that the other one was prepared to fight back, but the assault stopped suddenly when one of the gangsters was caused to trip by a familiar person. Fille stood up and looked at him with disgust "You won't get away with this."

"Oh yeah?! Machoke, teach her a lesson!"

The Pokemon prepared his punch and was already mid-swing when suddenly he stopped and started to wobble before falling down. His trainer realized that the girl was protected by the Oddish held in her arms, who released his Sleep Powder.

One of them came up with a solution to this newfound problem "It won't work if we attack in group!"

As an answer to that, three Machops jumped towards the girl. They did so from different angles although strictly speaking all of them were still in front of her. She closed her eyes in fear, suspecting that they were probably right in thinking that Oddish couldn't stop them, but it appeared that that he didn't need to.

The girl heard a loud crash and when she opened her eyes, all she could see was fire. As she took a step back, she realized that it was Jon's Rapidash who saved her by sending the group of fighting Pokemon flying into a wall. The young man was sitting on his steed's back and reached out his hand towards Fille to help her get on. She had to sit sideways because of her dress. Just as he said, she couldn't feel the fire even when touching it.

"What are we doing?" she asked.

"Causing a distraction." he answered quietly so that only she could hear him.

The members of Darkness Gang around them were too confused to react in time when Jon turned his horse around and began riding it towards the doors, right after he assured the rest of his friends with a thumbs up that everything would be okay.

"Oh no, you don't!" the villainous leader shouted as she pointed forward, giving her Beedrill a sign to attack the fire Pokemon.

She was left speechless when Rapidash jumped over, not only the bug, but also all of them, on his way to the exit, while barely avoiding scratching the ceiling with his horn. Everybody stood there for a couple seconds, waiting for the woman to give them some order.

"What are you doing?!" she exploded after coming back to her senses "Catch them before they call for help!"

A small group, including the ones with the Venonat, Exeggutor and Chansey, ran after the runaways, leaving only 8 conscious members of Darkness Gang in the room.

"Hmm. That is weird. Why has nobody called for help?" Green pondered, while putting emphasis on the word "has".

"Our phones are jammed." answered some man who overheard him.

"That explains it."

"I've been wondering..." Red spoke up "I think there are a lot more members of Darkness Gang on this ship than the ones we saw here."

"What do you mean?" wondered his rival.

"The chef at the restaurant we ate at said that they had to hire like 20 new people in recent history. Did you know about it, Michael?"

"I didn't. But if I'm thinking what you're thinking, that means that every department has been sabotaged over the last few weeks and subsequently infiltrated by Darkness Gang." answered the sailor.

"Which means that they might have already taken control of the ship and are driving it wherever they want to." pointed out Green.

"What are we going to do about it?" asked a voice which didn't belong to any of the three of them.

When they turned around with suspicion, they saw Phantom Venin who has been lurking behind them. The trio jumped back in surprise.

"What are you doing?!" Michael got rather angry

"Wait up! I came to ask for your help. I hoped that I could run away if I went backstage but there is no exit over there. So I need to go to the doors protected by that Dumbness Gang. I know I'm also a thief but for now we have a common enemy. How about it?" after saying that, he reached out his hand.

"Okay." Red agreed immediately and put his hand on the Phantom's.

"What?!" Michael was shocked.

"Whatever." Green did the same thing as Red.

"What?!"

"Come on, Michael." Red urged him on while smiling from ear to ear.

"Gah! Fine!" the sailor decided to give in.

The group lifted their hands up as a sign of their alliance with both Red and Phantom Venin giving out a happy shout.

"You think you can just ignore us?!" the woman with white hair was getting progressively angrier "Beedrill, Twineedle!"

The bug Pokemon rapidly travelled through the massive room, but the group still got enough time to jump towards the floor. As Red looked up, he realized that the Phantom decided to stand his ground and when Beedrill approached him, he used his wings blow it away. The bug, similar to his trainer, had a short temper and was ready to attack again without needing another command. Green caught onto the fact that before his wings would do anything, Phantom Venin would tap his back in a specific way. This time, the wings turned to steel and shielded him from the oncoming attack.

Beedrill backed away, looking at his arms in despair as he realized that both his stings started to crumble. After seeing a confident smile on the Phantom's face it wanted to turn away and fly off, but it felt something tugging on its leg and keeping it in place. It was a string and on its other end was a happy Caterpie, standing right next to the thief. After that surprise came another one when Phantom Venin's Clefable appeared seemingly out of nowhere and delivered a Mega Kick which caused the string to snap and sent Beedrill into the ceiling only for him to ricochet and land unconscious in front of his trainer. Clefable disappeared again, or at least it would seem like that but when Red and Green took a closer look, they realized that it just somehow became extremely small and jumped onto its trainer's shoulder.

"Hmm. So that's three." Green said while getting up, making sure that the Phantom could hear him.

"That's not nice." the thief understood what he was alluding to "Here I am, helping you out and you're focused on solving how I stole the Crystal Eye."

"We could make it a game. If I deduce all you did correctly, you'll return the Crystal Eye."

"Yeah, sure... No way." the criminal got disturbingly close to his face "My reputation would take a hit. I'm the third best thief in the world."

"That's oddly specific." noted Red.

"Can you focus?" Michael was getting impatient "I have a plan. Hey, crook."

"You mean me?" Phantom Venin pointed a finger at himself, truly surprised.

"Do you think you could carry these two while flying?" Michael asked while reaching for one of his pokeballs.

"I'm not sure. Maybe for a second or two."

"That would be enough. These thugs are all walking towards us. When they're close enough, fly above them and get out. I will stop them."

To get ready for his part in the plan, Michael released from a Poliwhirl who was eagerly awaiting an order.

"Will you be fine?" Red wanted to make sure before leaving the sailor by himself.

"Don't worry. I've been in worse situations... Now!"

When Michael shouted, Red, Green and Caterpie all grabbed onto Phantom Venin as he lifted them up into air and flew above their enemies heads. Although surprised by this move, some of the villains and their Pokemon managed to quickly turn around and were ready to run after the escaping group.

"Ice Beam!"

After hearing the command, Poliwhirl reached forward with his hand which began producing a stream of freezing energy which glued all the gangsters and their Pokemon to the floor. Michael watched his companions land safely and run towards the doors. Before they disappeared from his sight, he and Red exchanged a thumbs-up gesture.

"Now for the finishing touch! Go, Kangaskhan!"

After being sent out, the giant Pokemon landed in front of the entrance, completely blocking it.

"You fool! You've trapped yourself and all these people!" the white haired women yelled out after being freed from the ice by one of the Machokes.

"The only ones trapped here are you. This ship is my home. I won't let you do whatever you want with it." when saying those words, Michael reached for the pokeballs containing the remaining four of his partners.

. . .

"Wow. That guy was pretty hardcore." the Phantom commented after he and the others ran some distance away from the auction room "Well, I guess this is where we part ways."

"What?" Red looked at him with shock.

"I have what I came here for. I won't risk losing it by getting tangled up in this whole thing."

Red grabbed him by the collar and dragged his face uncomfortably close to his own. He looked furious. Green decided he would rather stand back and watch the whole thing play out.

"W-what?" although he would never admit it, in that moment, Phantom Venin got a little scared.

"You're already a part of this! You said you're the third best thief in the world! Well, this ship is full of other thieves and you decided to run! What does that make you?! The fiftieth best thief?! The hundredth?!"

"That's not how it works!"

"Then how does it work?!"

"Have you ever heard about "no honor among thieves"?"

"I'm not even sure what you're talking about!"

"Shut up!" Green finally interjected "Geez. If he wants to go, let him go. If we're lucky he'll run into some of the Darkness Gang and cause a distraction."

Phantom Venin freed himself from Red's grip by pushing the teenager away. After that, he made sure that the two buttons which connected his cape to his tuxedo were properly attached and clean. He turned back and started walking away without a word. After some time, he began flying. The boys watched him leave till he disappeared around some corner.

"What's the plan?" asked Red.

"They jammed the phones but the ship is still moving so if I go to the control room, I may be able to call for some help."

"Do you know the way?"

"I'll manage. But what are you going to do?"

"I'm sure that they captured the chef and people working in all the other restaurants. I'll go free them and send them out to free others. Even if the cooks don't have Pokemon, I hope that Darkness Gang will be afraid of their numbers. There still must be actual security guys somewhere. And we don't even know about other departments. But if every person I free manages to free another one, it will quickly turn into chaos."

"And we can take advantage of that chaos. Okay. See you soon."

They bumped their right fists before leaving in opposite directions.

. . .

"I mean, how dare they?" Phantom Venin was talking, seemingly to himself, while opening a door that led to one of the weather decks, after which, he took to air yet again "What kind of person would risk their life to safe someone they don't know. Especially if that someone is a rich asshole, since from what I saw that's most of the..."

He stopped talking after landing at the bow of the ship. Instead, he started looking around, visibly worried by something.

"Oh no. We have to find them. If those bastards did anything to them..."

Instead of finishing the sentence, he simply started flying again to return from whence he came.

. . .

Red arrived at the restaurant, sneaking by three members of Darkness Gang who were on the lookout. He found the chef and the rest of the staff unconscious and tied up in the kitchen.

"Hey, chef. Hey, chef." the boy talked to him while slapping him lightly on the cheek.

The man woke up and clearly wanted to say something but a patch of tape was covering his mouth. Red showed him a gesture which meant that even after taking it off, he should remain quiet. The restaurant owner listened to the teenager and after that, they began doing the same with all the others.

"What is going on here, boy?"

"It's kind of a long story and I don't know if we have the time. For now, listen. There's three guys right outside. I'm going to run past them. After that you'll swarm them from behind and did what they did to you."

"Okay."

"When you're done, you should check the other restaurants. I'm sure the situation there is similar. If you move fast and en masse, you should have no problem."

"But what about you?"

"I have to check how my friend is doing."

"Alright. Good luck."

After exchanging a handshake, Red run out of the restaurants, surprising the group of gangsters outside. He didn't even turn back to see if they would go after him, but since a couple seconds later nobody caught up to him, he was sure that his plan worked.

. . .

"Who are you?! What are you doing here?! Explain yours..."

The Darkness Gang member encountered by Green was given no chance, as Hitmonlee quickly knocked him out with a precise kick to the back of his head.

"Nighty night." the boy said while trying not to step on the criminal's body, while moving towards what looked like a communication panel.

The boy analyzed what he saw and after deciding that it shouldn't be too hard, sat down in a big, comfy, chair and put on a headset connected by a cable to a lot of machinery. He pressed some buttons and moved a couple of switches to get a connection. After using a dial to stabilize the radio, he began trying to speak through it.

"Hello... Hello. Is anybody receiving this?"

After a couple seconds of static, somebody answered "This is port control. This is a private frequency. Who are you and how did you access it?"

"My name is Green. I'm part of the security on St. Anne. The ship has been taken over by a group calling themselves Darkness Gang. They have Pokemon and there's only five of us against who knows how many of them. We need help."

"I... Can I speak with anyone else?" the person on the other end seemed unsure of whether they could trust this message.

"I just got here and it seems like everybody has been knocked out."

"Alright... I... Wait. You just came into the range of our radar. How's this possible. Did the ship turn around?"

Green looked around, feeling kind of stupid that he didn't notice, but there really was no way till he arrived in that room. He searched around and found machinery which controlled the movements of the ship while also having a map and a radar.

"This doesn't look good." he said after returning to the communication station "They steered us so that we'll swim somewhere south of Vermilion City, and destroyed the control panels. Which means we won't stop until we hit some island. I guess they have a plan to get off the ship before that happens."

"Oh no! I'll ring the alarm! My boss will know what to do. Stay there and wait. We'll see if there's something you can do. But the help will be on its way as soon as possible."

. . .

"I liked the previous movie better." said the woman who invited Blue to Lt. Surge's party, who now sat next to her since the girl didn't know anyone else besides her and the Gym leader who was occupied with making barbecue for the guests.

"Yeah." the girl agreed "All the fighting seems faked."

"That's absurd!" they heard a manly voice behind them.

It was none other than Lt. Surge who gave control over the grill to somebody else since his favorite scene was about to begin. He sat on the grass and began eating the fish shashlik with onion and bell pepper which he just prepared himself.

"This particular actor is famous for doing his own stunts. And he has a third dan in Karate. That's almost as good as me." after saying that, he laughed for a while before he started to eat.

He seemed like a very kind and smart person, and he definitely gave Blue trouble in their Gym battle, but she still thought that he could sometimes come off as too full of himself. That was one of those times.

"Hmm?" the leader looked down when he noticed that his cellphone was vibrating in the pocket of his camo pants.

He put down his paper plate and answered the call. Blue glanced in his direction as she heard him getting louder with each second. He seemed shocked and excited at the same time. Finally, his call ended and he stood up, with fire burning in his eyes. He reached into another pocket and took out a whistle. Seeing that he was going to blow into it, the girl covered her ears, but still was close enough that she could almost feel the sound instead of hearing it. All the other people turned their attention towards the leader and the person responsible for the projector stopped the movie. All the people had serious faces, since they knew that only a serious matter could cause Lt. Surge to stop his movie party. Some started whispering, exchanging ideas on what could have happened.

"You need to move away from this spot. You can return to watching the movie after this but I need what's under us, so move... about 30-40 meters in that direction."

Since the Gym was far from any buildings and surrounded by grass, it seemed weird when the leader wanted them to move to another place on the plain, but nevertheless, everybody listened and walked over there. Suddenly, Blue felt the ground move and the place where they sat before started moving. A rectangular hole opened in the ground and from it appeared a platform with a helicopter. The girl, and around twenty other curious people, walked over to ask the leader what this whole thing was about.

"I've been called onto. The pride of Vermilion City, St. Anne, has been taken over by some damn com... I mean, by a group of criminals." he explained.

"Is it Team Rocket?" somebody asked.

"No. It's the Darkness Gang. They were once the most influential criminal organization in Kanto but since Team Rocket appeared, we haven't heard too much about them. But it seems like they staged a comeback and wanted to make it a big one. We're lucky that some young fella stood up to them and managed to contact port control. They'll try to find some way to help him stop the ship but if those bastards get to him before then, he will be in trouble. That's where I come in. I'm gonna knock some sense into those fools."

Blue stood there paralyzed from the shock. Her face went white as soon as she heard about the young male. Since she thought she saw Red on the ship, there was a high chance that he was the one that contacted the land. And even if that wasn't him, if there was a chance that he was on that ship, she was sure that he would get himself in trouble.

"Let me go with you!" she shouted, not stopping to think of how it may have made her look, or what danger that could put her in if she was allowed to accompany the leader.

"What? No, I ca..."

"She's right!" somebody else interrupted the leader.

"Yeah! What if that ship crashes into the city?" another one spoke up.

"We're also Pokemon trainers! We've fought you before. You should know you can count on us!"

A tear, signifying how proud he was, appeared in :Lt. Surge's eye. He didn't feel like that for many years. But he didn't want to show weakness, so he gathered himself and looked at them with a stern expression.

"Alright. But I can't take all of you. I will take her..." he pointed at Blue "...since I saw her abilities today and I know she's in top form. I'll also take Rockskey, since he was a helicopter pilot. With the ship moving, it will be hard to land so we'll have to jump. I'll take another eight of you. Decide with rock paper scissors. As for the remaining ones, go to the port and ask them if you can be of any help."

"Sir, yes sir!" they shouted while saluting him.

. . .

"Where are they?" the Phantom was getting progressively more worried as he searched the ship "Hm? What's that sound?"

As he looked towards a side corridor, he saw a group of men running at him. He managed to rise above them so that he wouldn't be trampled by them. Judging by their clothes, he thought them to be ship's cooks. After reaching him, one of them jumped up to grab onto the sleeve of his pants.

"What are you doing, assholes?! Leave me alone! I don't have time for this!" he yelled while trying to free himself.

"You try to take over our ship and now try to act innocent?! Don't make me laugh!" responded the man holding onto him.

"I'm not part of Darkness Gang, you idiot! And I certainly don't have time for this! Caterpie!"

The bug Pokemon, who was sitting on one of his trainer's shoulders, used a String Shot on the assailant's face, which distracted him enough for Phantom Venin to get free. After that, he flew away, faster than before, to make sure that he would lose them.

"It seems like this place has become a full-on battlefield. But what happened to my Pokemon?"

. . .

"Pikachu, Thunder Shock!"

The electric rodent jumped off a wall, avoiding a Machoke's punch to land on its head and electrify it with his attack, causing the fighting Pokemon to finally faint after battling it for a couple minutes. The Darkness Gang member, who was commanding the said creature, fell on the floor from shock but still tried to get up to run away, but another attack from the electric mouse put him out of commission.

"How are you holding up, Pikachu?" Red said while kneeling down to pat his companion.

The Pokemon tried to look tough, but it was hard to hide how exhausted he was after taking part in several battles in a row. As he made his way towards where he thought he would find Green, Red tried to stop in one of the Pokemon Centers only to find that the healing machines have been destroyed, no doubt by the Darkness Gang. He already used up most of his potions and it seemed like he was meeting a new enemy at every other step.

"Wait..." the boy stood up "Do you hear? What is that?"

Slowly, he got up and tried peeking behind the corner from where he heard a sound of something approaching them. When he realized that it seemed to be some kind of Pokemon, apparently ready to walk right through them, he grabbed Pikachu and began running from the approaching creature, finally going into a smaller corridor at the end of which were doors leading outside. Once he ran a couple steps past the doors, he turned around, to make sure that the size of that corridor would be enough to stop whatever it was that tried to attack them, but that something decided to prove him wrong.

Parts of the walls and the ceiling came flying as a massive, four armed beast arrived in front of them. It stopped and looked at them menacingly, but after a short while, it decided to make way for a person who looked a lot more human, but still just as dangerous. It was a man who looked like he could be in his sixties, but had a physique of an athlete and was as tall as his Pokemon and as wide as a washing machine. He had an eyepatch, a big scar on his cheek and was smoking a cigar, which added some weird vibe to his look.

"Why would you do that?" the man had a deep voice, but with a touch of melancholy, which somehow made Red immediately think that he would be a good singer "Why would you get in our way like that? We could have stolen those things and you would still have time to jump off the ship. But you just had to get. In. Our. Way."

The man's face and voice became more intense with each word he spoke. Red deduced that the person wanted to get serious from the get-go when he saw him throw away and step on his cigar.

"Machamp..." the man lifted his index and middle fingers which signaled his Pokemon to get ready "...take them down."

The living mass of muscles began approaching Red and Pikachu at an astonishing speed and the only thing the both of them could think of in that moment was to dodge, thinking that if they move in opposite directions, the opponent would be too torn up on who to go after, making him unable to attack either of them. But they miscalculated the reach of his arms. The Pokemon stuck his legs forward to stop himself as he used his bottom arms to get both of them in his grasp. He stood in place, with the wooden floor slightly damaged by his sudden halt, while looking from one to the other, both struggling to get out.

Pikachu was in pain and could think of only one way to free them, but he didn't want to do it since he could end up hurting his trainer. But a faint smile on Red's face told the rodent that the teenager was prepared for it. The electric Pokemon gathered as much energy as it could an released it, electrifying the foe and, by extension, his own trainer. Machamp felt his hands grow weak and dropped both of them. After that, he took a step back to evaluate how to go against such a problematic opponent. Meanwhile, Pikachu gathered itself and jumped over to Red to check up on him. The boy was breathing heavily but managed to prop himself up to finally stand on both legs, however wobbly they were.

"They aren't like those previous guys. That Machamp thing is used to fighting without getting any orders. Since he has four arms..." Red reached towards the pokeballs containing the rest of his team "...I'll fight him with four Pokemon. Go, everybody!"

After being released a couple meters above Machamp, Red's Pokemon had to quickly judge what was going on and adapt to the situation. Charmander and Eevee began by using Ember and Swift respectively. While Machamp was preoccupied with protecting himself from these attacks, Pikachu took the chance and used a Quick Attack on one of the foe's legs, which made him lose his balance and flail all his arms in a hopeless attempt at trying to regain it. The cherry on top was Charmander and Eevee uniting in using their tales as a base for Magikarp's Bounce which instead of going up was directed at the falling opponent. The fighting Pokemon was hit straight in his head and finally collapsed. When everybody landed, they were still wary of whether or not they beat him, which turned out to be a good idea, as the Machamp stood up almost immediately, full of anger to boot.

"This fight has just begun." declared the man from Darkness Gang.

. . .

"You are a monster. How... How is this possible?" the white haired woman, who was leading the part of the villainous organization which attacked the auction room, has fallen to her knees, and although she wanted to, she couldn't bring herself to stand up after what she had just gone through.

Michael stood not too far away, using a piece of tablecloth to stop the bleeding from his arm. Since Red and the others left the place, it got heavily damaged, but the most important part was that all the Darkness Gang members have already been defeated, not only their Pokemon, but also they themselves, after Michael laid his hands on them.

"Let me help you tie that. I was a nurse when I was young." one of the female guest wanted to help the sailor with caring for his wounds.

"Don't worry. If I couldn't take at least this much pain, I couldn't call myself a part of this ship's crew."

"But I must say, I never saw a Pokemon quite like those you used in this battle." commented one older gentleman.

"That's understandable. Since St. Anne swims between Kanto and Johto, some of my Pokemon are from there." explained Michael "But I don't have time to stand around and talk. I have to check how the others are doing. I'll leave Kangaskhan to protect the door so for now, could you tie up these assholes and stay here?"

Nobody responded but the sailor knew that he could take that as a "yes" since all the people there had faces which showed that they were grateful towards him.

"Okay. Tauros!" as he called for his Pokemon, which has been sniffing a Machoke it defeated, it ran over to him "It's time to kick some more butt."

The Pokemon got as low as it could, to allow the man to get on its back, after which they quickly left the room, and Kangaskhan again blocked up the entrance.

. . .

"Get out here, you stupid thing! Or don't you care about your friend?!"

A group of Darkness Gang members and a couple of their Machops and Machokes were gathered in one place, with one of the evolved Pokemon holding Phantom Venin's Porygon in its hands. They also had with them the Exeggutor which was keeping a watchful eye on its surroundings, as if it expected something to appear from thin air.

"If that's how it's going to be, then fine. Machoke, squeeze it harder!" spoke up the same gangster.

In response to that, the Gastly appeared from nowhere and flew as fast as it could towards its friend, but it was still too slow and was hit by a Psyshock from the Exeggutor, which sent it spiraling towards the floor.

"Stupid trash. We won't let you interfere in our plans. Machoke, go pick it up."

As one of the muscular Pokemon reached towards the Gastly which was writhing in pain, it stopped as it felt something below. Suddenly, a bunch of flaming balls appeared at its feet and started rising while circling his body, causing it to get hurt. When the attack reached its head, it finally disappeared, and Machoke fell on his bottom, not completely sure what just happened.

"What is it now?!" Machoke's trainer got irritated and started looking for whomever was responsible for that move.

Finally, he laid his eyes on something, but it was moving too fast for him to immediately recognize what it was, especially since it seemed to be running straight at him. The last thing he saw before going before losing consciousness was the underside of a hoof right before his eyes.

"Who the hell are you?!" one of the other criminals yelled out in panic.

"Someone who came to defeat you." Jon announced from atop his steed.

Fille was still sitting beside him, trying to make scary faces at the other ones, although it was hard for anyone to not consider them kind of cute. To her surprise, Oddish decided to jump out of her hands and approach Gastly. She went after him and saw that he wanted to use Sweet Scent to calm down the ghost Pokemon, since there was no way to help it with its pain.

Fille looked up and saw that Exeggutor was continuing to use Psyshock to torment Gastly. She stood up and did the only things she could think of in that moment, which was to drop kick the palm tree Pokemon. She held onto her dress while in the air to not reveal too much of herself, but her attack was still successful. Exeggutor fell backwards which caused a domino effect as it hit a criminal who fell on another one who dropped onto the Machoke holding Porygon, which allowed the virtual Pokemon to free itself and immediately fly towards its friend to check how it was doing.

"We can't lose like this! Machoke, crush that Porygon!" shouted one of the men while trying to stand up.

The Pokemon which was previously struck by Rapidash's Fire Spin, was already back on his legs and close enough that it could immediately proceed with punching its target. It hesitated a little when it saw Fille jump in the way of its punch, but didn't stop. As its fist sank into the girl's body, she felt like she was about to throw up. She was flung through the corridor and would experience more pain by hitting the floor were it not for her savior.

Phantom Venin grabbed her just in time as he was flying towards the group after noticing his Pokemon from afar. He landed as gently as he could and put the girl on the floor just as she was going unconscious. He bit his lip, ashamed by the thought that he was, in a way, responsible for what just happened. Meanwhile, angered Jon, used Rapidash to run into the one who attacked Fille and send him into a wall.

"I don't like to get serious but..." the Phantom said to himself while grabbing onto the buttons that attached the cape to his suit "...I'm really pissed off."

After throwing away his cape in an overly dramatic way, the thief revealed that the wings on his back didn't belong to him, but in fact to a Golbat who was hiding under it.

Jon jumped off the back of his Pokemon when Phantom Venin approached him. They stood side by side when the prince said "I'll take one half, you'll take the other. How about that?"

"Fine by me."

. . .

"What is that?"

"What are you talking about?"

Two of the people in Lt. Surge's cramped helicopter were looking outside in some indistinct shapes in the water, but they were too high and even the light of the moon wasn't enough to tell whether there really was something there or if they just imagined whatever it was.

"I'm not sure... But maybe... I've been wondering about something. I'm sure Lt. Surge also thought about it."

"What is it? Spill it out?" insisted the other one.

"Since Lt. explained that the ship controls have been destroyed after changing the course, that means that the ship will crash, right?"

"I mean... yeah. But there's still a long way until we reach any island so we're supposed to focus on subduing the Darkness Gang while the eggheads on the ship and in the port come up with a way to stop it."

"I think the thing he's worried about..." interjected Blue "...is how those thieves want to escape? The ship is going too fast to safely get into lifeboats and they can't just all jump into the sea since they would risk damaging the things they plan to steal."

"Which means they are probably doing the same thing as we are." spoke up the leader who has been listening in on their conversation from the co-pilot seat.

"They are using a helicopter!" shouted one of them who until that time didn't arrive at the same conclusion as the others.

"Or multiple helicopters, or an airship." added Blue.

"Then what are we going to do? What if we defeat all the bad guys but more arrive by air?" asked one of the people.

"Even if they have a plan to escape by air, the crew of whatever they arrive in should be minimal since they would need a place to fit all the riches and the ones who stole them." explained the leader "If we see anyone in the sky, we'll try to contact them. If they don't answer within 10 seconds, I'll shoot them down."

After those last words, the leader hit an open palm with a fist while smiling as if he really wanted that to open. Some of the people looked at others to make sure if they were just as afraid of what that statement meant.

. . .

Green looked on as the people responsible for steering the ship were running in amok while trying to find a way to salvage the controls. One of them even ran into him and continued onward without looking if the boy was okay.

"Could you not stand in our way?!" another one yelled at him.

"I just wanted to make sure that you're not attacked again." he tried reasoning with him.

"There is no need for that! Earlier they took us by surprise but right now we're ready to dealt with anyone who comes in here!" the man yelled while pointing, first toward an unneeded pipe he attached to his belt and then to a couple fire extinguishers they prepared in a safe spot.

"Okay. You take care of yourselves. I will check how's the situation in other places." he explained before going out the door with his Hitmolee.

Once outside, he stretched for a while before saying quietly "I hope Red is doing okay."

After that, both he and his Pokemon launched forward as fast as they could.

. . .

Red tried to dodge the fastest he could but was still hit by his Magikarp who has just been effortlessly thrown by the Machamp they were fighting against. The boy took the brunt of the damage when he hit the floor and cut open his forearm. Magikarp got off him and looked rather worried, but his trainer quickly removed the upper part of his suit, rolled up the sleeve of his dress shirt and tore off a piece of the jacket to tie it around his wound. He was worried during those seconds since the rest of his Pokemon were still occupied with fighting and although he trusted them, he felt less worried when he could command them in the battle. When he was done with stopping the bleeding, he looked up and saw Eevee trying to distract Machamp with Mirror Room while Charmander and Pikachu attacked him with Ember and Thunder Shock from a safe distance.

"Machamp, stop playing around!" yelled the eye-patched man "Use Bulk Up!"

The fighting Pokemon listened which meant that he flexed his muscles, increasing his strength and durability. This was used to lessen the damage he was taking from Charmander and Pikachu and to prepare him for the next move.

"Now use Low Sweep!"

Machamp spun around while sticking out its leg. He was fast enough to hit all of Eevee's afterimages and even the real one. When he felt the opponent being hit by his shin, he changed the direction to fling him upward in order to avoid him dodging his next attack.

"Cross Chop!"

Machamp formed and "X" with its upper arms just as they began to glow with energy and jumped towards Eevee. Red instantly arrived at the only possible option at that moment "Charmander, shoot down Eevee!"

Without hesitation, the lizard shot out a volley of fiery bullets which hit the dog from the side and pushed him out of Machamp's way just as he was about to be hit. Eevee recovered in air and landed gracefully next to Pikachu. After a short while, the fighting Pokemon also arrived back at the deck.

"That was a bold move, but a clever one too." commented the gangster "Do you have any other tricks up your sleeve?"

Red didn't want to get distracted by a conversation and proceeded to giving his next order "Eevee! It's time to use the thing we've been working on! Swift Version B!"

Knowing what he was supposed to do, the dog closed its eyes to focus. This new attack took a couple seconds longer to charge than the regular one which was almost instant but thankfully both Machamp and his trainer were careful not to attack before seeing what they opponents wanted to do. To their surprise, it seemed like the attack was somehow supposed to involve Pikachu as he and Eevee both began using Quick Attack to advance towards their foe.

"Superstar!" shouted Red.

Eevee opened its mouth but both of the Pokemon were moving too fast for Machamp to realize what was happening. Instead of releasing a group of small stars, the dog released a single star which was about half the size of his body. His foe realized that just as he was about to be hit in the face. The thing he didn't notice was that for a short while, Pikachu sat on the starshaped projectile and jumped off it at just the right time.

While Machamp was completely occupied with protecting his face and chest, he left his back completely open, which gave the electric Pokemon a chance to use Iron Tail on the back of his opponents head. Machamp's eyes went completely white and for a fraction of a second he felt as if he lost control of his body, but he got recovered almost instantly only to realize to painful what he just went through was. He reached backwards with his upper arms and caught the rodent with one of them. Before Red could give any of his Pokemon a new command, the enraged Machamp slammed Pikachu into the floor. He lifted him up and did it again. And again. And again.

"Enough!" yelled his trainer.

Machamp stopped himself and slowly regained his senses. He realized that his opponent was not only badly bruised but also passed out. He backed off a couple steps.

"We still have the other ones to take care of." reminded him the gangster.

Red silently returned Pikachu back to his pokeball and lowered his cap so that his eyes wouldn't be visible while he was cleaning them from tears which started gathering when he realized he couldn't save his Pokemon from being hurt.

"There's something we still haven't tried out." Red said to his remaining part of his team, who slowly backed off and were within 2 meters of him "I didn't want to do it because I felt... I didn't want to lose... But because of my selfishness Pikachu was hurt... Charmander... Use Smokescreen!"

"What?!"

The Darkness Gang member couldn't do anything when the fire Pokemon released a thick cloud of black smoke from his mouth. Machamp knew better than trying to find his opponents while blinded so he waited in one spot, but this actually gave Red and his team a chance to run away, since when the smoke cleared, they were nowhere to be seen.

"Don't worry, Machamp. You put the fear in that boy. Now I'm sure that we won't see him again."

. . .

"What the hell is that sound?" Michael asked himself while searching one of the uppermost decks in hope of finding one of the people he helped get out of the auction room.

He looked above for where the noise came from and was subsequently blinded by a light which he soon after realized to be coming from a helicopter flying above the ship. He raised one hand above his eyes to allow him to better see something he noticed approaching him from the direction of the aircraft. When he realized what, or rather who it was, he immediately changed the position of his hand stood straighter to salute the arrival of Lt. Surge who descended by hanging onto his Magneton.

"Stand down, Michael."

"You remember me, Sir?" the sailor was shocked.

"Hahaha. A good soldier needs to have good memory. I remember every person who won the Thunder badge and that's not a lot of people, I must say. I don't like to brag, but I win 90% of Gym battles. If not for me, the Pokemon League would probably last a month. The fact that you won against me definitely makes you a person worth remembering."

"Thank you, Sir." the sailor bowed, but this caused him to feel pain in his back which was left over as one of the mementos of the auction room battle.

"Okay, okay. Let's get down to business."

They talked for a while with Michael explaining everything he knew about the situation on the ship. Meanwhile, the group who came with Lt. Surge got down on the deck, but in a more traditional manner, that is, by using a rope ladder.

"So we don't know how many hostiles remain, we don't know if the helicopter pad is safe. we don't know how they're planning to escape and we don't know if it's possible to stop the ship. That's a lot unknowns, but I've worked with worse." summarized the leader "Alright. It's not much but the plan for now is that I'll let Rockskey know to return to Vermilion since we can't just have him hang above us and waste fuel. The rest of us, that's 11 including you Michael, are gonna split in 3 teams. I'll lead the first one, you'll lead the second and..."

"10 people." one of the people interrupted.

"What?" Lt. Surge looked at that person in confusion.

"There's 10 of us here. I think the one who is missing is that Blue girl." they explained.

The leader looked around to make sure that wasn't a mistake but it turned out the girl was really gone.

Meanwhile, not far away, the runaway girl was frantically looking around while running through the corridors. Even though she wasn't sure, something like an instinct was telling her that Red was on that ship, and if he was, she knew that he would get himself in some dangerous situation. She started repeating in her mind that that everything would be okay, to calm herself down, but that only made her more worried.

. . .

"There's one of them!" a member of Darkness Gang who managed to notice Green, pointed in the direction of the boy who was running towards stairs leading to a higher floor, since he noticed that the elevators were disabled.

When he heard them, he didn't waste any time and threw forward three pokeballs which released Ivysaur, Jigglypuff and Nidorina. The 3 gangsters whom he faced and an equal number of Machokes, decided to stand on guard, to prepare themselves for the attacks that would surely be coming at them from Green's team.

"Razor Leaf! Disarming Voice! Poison Sting! Jump Kick!" the teenager ordered.

"Wait, what was that last one?" one of the gangsters asked, confused by the fact that Green gave 4 orders while they could only see 3 of his Pokemon.

While the group of Machokes stood with their arms put up to protect their torsos and faces, something astonishingly quick started travelling between the walls, the floor and ceiling, bouncing off and avoiding all the attacks which were hitting the Machokes. Finally, Hitmonlee revealed itself by landing right between the Darkness Gang members. Before they could warn their Pokemon, Hitmonlee leapt forward to kick one of the fighting Pokemon in the back of the head. This not only hurt that one, but also caused him to drop his guard and become an easier target for Ivysaur's leaves. When the other two noticed what happened it was already too late.

"Double Kick!"

While still in air, Hitmonlee spun around while extending both his legs to knock out the two foes. The rest of Green's team stopped their attack once they saw that the victory was theirs. When Hitmonlee turned towards the criminals, his judgmental eyes caused them so much terror that they grabbed each other by their collars and hit their heads together, which made all of them pass out. Green decided to check up on them just to be sure that it wasn't a trap. Right as he was doing that, he heard a voice behind him.

"Green! So you are safe!"

When he turned around, he saw the unusual alliance of Jon and Phantom Venin approaching him. The unconscious Fille was hanging from the Rapidash while the prince was walking beside it. Curiously, the Phantom was also on foot, and accompanied by a Golbat, a Porygon and a Gastly who were flying right behind him. Red's Oddish was sleeping atop the head of Clefable who didn't seem to mind, while the final Pokemon, Caterpie, was still sticking to its trainer's shoulder.

"What made you change your mind?" Green asked while looking at the thief.

"I just don't like to owe people anything." he answered while glancing at Fille.

"I'm not sure what that means but... whatever. Did you meet anyone besides me? I mean, someone not from Darkness Gang?"

"Yeah." responded Phantom Venin "It seems like various other people have begun fighting back against Dumbness Gang. The problem is that they keep mistaking me for one of the villains."

"You are." interjected Jon.

"What?"

"A villain."

The Phantom looked at him as if the prince said something unbelievable "I mean... In a sense, you're right. But I'm too lovable to be confused with one of those styleless thugs. I don't hurt anybody. I'm not a bad person."

"Then want to prove it?" Green asked with a confident smirk.

"What? Oh... You mean to tell me you've finally figured out how I stole the Crystal Eye?"

"Every detail."

"Okay." the Phantom took out the Crystal Eye from his bag and held it in front of his face while making a serious face "If you're right, this is yours. Thief's honor."

"Well, you said that there's no honor among..."

"Alright, alright. I swear on... what can I swear on?"

"I... Your father or mother?"

"Got it. I swear on my mother. To hell with the other one."

That last expression made the other two raise a brow in curiosity of what the Phantom's family relations looked like.

"You can begin."

"You can't fly. You wear a cape to hide a Golbat which attaches to your back. At first I thought you used your mask, but after a while I noticed those buttons that you attach your cape with. They're masked cameras which connect to something on your back which allows Golbat to see what's in front of you. Even then, to not reveal the secret behind your trick, you don't give him orders. Instead, you tap on him in a specific manner to let him know what to do. Now that I saw that you have a Porygon and a Gastly, I deduced that you had them sneak into the room responsible for controlling the lights and the sound system in the auction room. Gastly took control over a possible guard and made him knock himself out while Porygon changed himself into data to flick the lights and play that shitty song. While everybody was confused by what was happening, your Caterpie used String Shot to glue the fake security guards to the floor. I'm not sure in which part of the auction room you were before you began your whole act but I suspect that long before you even approached the stage, Clefable was already there, using Minimize to hide itself. When the pedestal with the Crystal Eye appeared, Clefable reverted back to its normal size in a moment when the room was dark and minimized again mid-air to finally land next to the glass. He was so small that he could fit between the pedestal and the glass, so he didn't trigger the trap. He became big again, grabbed the gem, shrunk again and escaped from there. Then he enlarged to give you the Crystal Eye and used Minimize for the last time before you used him in battle. The thing is, even with the lights going on and off and that music, people would have noticed that you flew above them. So the only conclusion is that you didn't fly. You have a sixth Pokemon, one who can use the move Teleport. Probably an Abra, since having an evolved one would create a bigger risk of someone seeing him and realizing how you did it."

For the next several seconds, Phantom Venin stood with his mouth agape from shock, while Jon was quickly looking between the Phantom and Green, not sure why the thief reacted in such a way.

"Are... Are you some kind of natural genius? Telepath maybe?" Phantom Venin tried to find some explanation while panicking over the fact that he lost the bet because of his overconfidence.

"Nope. I just like Pokemon a lot." Green answered with a honest smile on his face, which somehow didn't quite fit the opinions the other two have created about him.

The teenager reached out towards the thief, who was still a little astonished but somehow managed to come to his senses and handed over the Crystal Eye.

"Alright." Green said while hiding the gem in his pocket "We wasted enough time here. I don't believe that the woman in the auction room is in charge of this whole operation, so we still need to find their boss while taking out any other ones we meet."

"At least when I'm with you, there will be less chance of someone mistaking me for a villain." commented the Phantom who looked like he was trying to deal with the sadness over the loss of Crystal Eye.

"But you are a villain." quickly reminded him Jon.

. . .

Avoiding places overrun by the released cooks and sailors facing off against the Darkness Gang members, Red and his Pokemon managed to reach a sub-floor which contained a laundry room and a janitor's closet. He fell on his bottom in front of a washing machine before he even had a chance to turn on the light.

Thankfully, Charmander's tail lit up the immediate area as the boy and his team of Pokemon were trying to catch their breaths after their fast escape from the frighteningly strong gangster and his Machamp. After taking a little while to rest, Magikarp, who had to be carried by the trainer, signaled that he wanted to be placed on the floor alongside the others, by wiggling around.

"Oh, right." the teenager realized what that meant and fulfilled his wish.

While the group of Pokemon were looking up at their trainer, he was occupied with staring at Pikachu's pokeball which he held in his hand since the electric Pokemon lost his battle. Magikarp became worried about the situation and lowered his gaze, while the other two gasped in shock when they saw tears slowly appear in Red's eyes and travel down his cheeks. The boy held up the pokeball against the lower side of his forehead, although careful not to press the button. He continued crying while trying to come up with something that would solved the problem of how he felt at that moment.

"I'm sorry, Pikachu... This is all my fault."

Charmander looked around, unsure of what to do, when he noticed that the other two also started crying. He was just as devastated as them but he would consider it a hit to his pride if he broke down like the rest of the group. Still, he felt helpless. All he knew how to do was fighting and that wouldn't be of any use in a situation such as the one they were in. Or would it?

"I should have never ordered you to fight against somebody that strong..."

Suddenly, Red felt an immense pain in the same place he was wounded before. It was the same arm which held the pokeball, so it caused the ball to fall out of the boys hand and into his lap. When he opened his eyes, still full of tears, he saw that the cause of this was Charmander who bit into the place Red tied the sleeve of his suit around. He quickly cleaned his eyes with the other hand while enduring the pain. More than caring about what he was going through, he wanted to understand why the lizard would do such a thing.

"Charmander, what is going on?" he asked while slowly petting the Pokemon's head.

The other two also stopped crying and were looking at this unusual scene with curiosity. After a while the fire Pokemon released the boy's arm and looked at him with an angry expression, as if that stunt was somehow a message that the trainer was supposed to understand. Worried that it didn't work, the lizard jumped back and signaled the other ones to step back. After they listened to his request, he closed his eyes to focus for a couple seconds, after which the flame on his tail grew several times in size, to finally envelop his body. The Pokemon released the loudest and fiercest roar it could. Red used his memory to go earlier in the day and remembered how Charmander behaved similarly when they fought against Michael and Kangaskhan. That time it was caused by Charmander feeling that Red treated him as if he was not worthy enough to fight his own fights to the end.

"I understand that you wanted to win but it just wasn't possible!" the boy shouted while standing up "That wasn't a normal battle after which you can just get healed in a Pokemon Center! I don't want to risk you getting hurt!"

After hearing that, the lizard jumped forward and hit Red's wound with his flaming head. The piece of cloth quickly burned up while the wound cauterized a little. The boy was in pain and he was still bleeding slightly so he had to grab it again. While dealing with that, Red realized that it wasn't pride which Charmander cared about. The thing he wanted was trust, and not just any trust but one that goes both ways. The boy kneeled down one leg while still enduring the pain.

"I think I finally got what you wanted to say..." he said.

Hearing that, the lizard caused its flames to go back to normal and looked at the boy, still unsure if they really managed to understand each other.

"...How can I be such a selfish hypocrite? We're a team after all. I was worried about any of you getting hurt while I had no problem about getting hurt myself. But you also don't want me getting hurt..."

A slight smile appeared on Charmander's face, while the other Pokemon listened to what the boy had to say and started thinking about how they felt about the whole situation.

"...I know that I probably can't win against that guy but that never should have stopped me from trying. When you became part of my team, all of you made an unspoken promise that you would fight together with me, and I was the one to break it... I just want to make sure... before I return to face that guy... There a ton of innocent people on this ship that could lose their lives, so I'm going to put my own life on the line to stop that. Can I count on you waging your lives together with mine?" after that last question, he reached forward with his hurt arm with the hand formed into a fist.

Almost instantly, the trio of Pokemon put their paw, hand and fin on the boy's hand.

"Alright! It's time to kick some ass or die trying." after standing up, Red quickly remembered about his wound which he somehow forgot in his excitement "But first... Let's seal this up completely."

. . .

"Mr. Eisen!"

The man who previously fought Red was searching for any other people who would dare to oppose him, while he heard a voice call out his name. He turned around and saw that it was one of his subordinates who looked like he was beat up by somebody. He was barely able to walk and as soon as he reached his superior, he was about to collapse, but the massive man caught him by the collar and lifted so that they would be on the same eye level.

"Who did this to you?" he asked in a voice that well masked how ashamed he was that his people would lose to anyone.

"It... It... It was him." the man barely got the sentence out while pointing towards the doors through which he arrived on that particular weather deck.

He threw the pathetic excuse for a gangster over the railing, causing him to land on a table a couple meters down, probably breaking several bones. He didn't want anyone interrupting what was about to happen, since while squinting his one eye to see the approaching silhouette, he slowly began to feel like he recognized it. When that someone finally stepped out of the dark corridor and into the moonlight, a big smile arrived on Eisen's face. The person was indeed someone whom he knew all too well. It was Lt. Surge.

The gym leader looked even more excited than before since he also recognized the criminal "Long time no see... Sgt. Faust Eisen."

The man laughed loudly in response while putting one hand on his belly "Oh man... That's good. You're gonna use my rank? Do you order people to call you Lieutenant? We're not in army anymore."

"You say that you're not in army but you still seem to be fighting a war." Surge said while making a more serious expression.

"Because the war never ended. We didn't win anything. Some stupid bureaucrats signed some deal to end it, but if we fought just a little longer we could have won it! What was the point to all of that? They told us we would be heroes but all we did was kill... villages full of people... And when it was all "over"? We returned home and everybody forgot. No one here cared about the war since it took place halfway around the world. We got some stupid medals and were left on ice. With what we experienced there, how do they expect people to just build new lives for themselves? We don't have families, we can't get good jobs... This is the only way. I..."

"Enough."

"I feel power again..."

"I said enough!" the leader yelled, visibly angry.

Faust realized that he was breathing heavily and sweating all over his face. It was a long time since he lost control like that and he didn't want it to cloud his judgement, especially since he knew how strong Surge could be.

"There is no use in talking to you." decided the leader "So I'm just going to bring you down. Go, Raichu!

The electric mouse appeared from its pokeball on all fours, ready to begin the attack as soon as it would receive the order to do so.

"Cutting to the chase like always, I see. I won't keep you waiting anymore. Destroy our enemies, Machamp!"

The four-armed Pokemon materialized a couple meters above the deck and, while falling, stretched out its lowers arms to land more lightly. The floorboards still broke a little, but the beast didn't care about it. Instead, it moved it opened its arms so that they looked like an "X" while roaring loudly. After that, both the Pokemon and their trainers stared each other down for a good couple seconds, which was actually a time during which they were trying to predict what the other ones would do.

Since the men knew well about the tactics the other one used in the past, it was hard for either of them make the beginning move. Even if one of them arrived at a good plan at that moment, it was not possible to put it into action. Suddenly, the whole ship shook. Since both men were so concentrated, they didn't get a chance to catch onto the railing and both fell down. When Surge got up, he started looking around for an explanation as to what just happened, but it seemed like Faust already knew since he began laughing again.

"What's going on here?!" Surge yelled at him.

He soon got his answer when he noticed that something was obscuring the moonlight from reaching them. He couldn't clearly tell what it was but it looked like some enormous, grey snake. The leader quickly called out his Magneton and used it to fly to a higher place. When he landed on one of the roofs, he realized with a terrified expression that St. Anne has just been stopped enveloped by tentacles of an abnormally large Tentacruel who seemed to have a metallic dome attached to the top of its body.

"So that's how they plan to escape?!"

"Owww. Did we finally hit an island or something?" a voice came from below.

Surge carefully descended from the roof to see who it was. Since he never met him before, when he saw Red, who was bleeding from his forehead, he took him as one of the passengers.

"Are you alright?" the leader asked.

"Uh... Yeah. I just hit my head when the ship started shaking. Do you know what's going on? Are we going to sink?" the boy said while looking around, with Eevee hanging from his arm.

"No... At least not yet, I hope. But you shouldn't be wandering around the ship anyway. I have two big problems to deal with. I can't do that and protect you, so you should hide somewhere."

"Hide? What are you talking about? I have to find..." Red stopped since he just then saw what was happening "...What the hell is that giant thing?!"

"That's what I was trying to..."

"Aaah! He's down there!" the boy yelled after seeing Faust a little below them "Oh man. How am I gonna deal with him and that big whatever it is all alone? What is Green doing during all this?"

"Calm down!" Surge shook him by grabbing the only sleeve the teenager still had "Why are you talking like you came here to save the day?! Who are you?!"

"Who am I?! More like, who are you?!"

Suddenly, they had to stop talking when they realized that the giant Tentacruel raised one of its tentacles and sent it in their direction. It wasn't terribly fast, but they still barely dodged it because of its massive size. They jumped lower and landed right next to Faust whom they immediately noticed to be holding a communication device.

"I thought the communications were jammed." Red tried to wrap his head around what was happening while getting himself up from the floor.

"Only short length communications, and not all of them. Our scientist made sure there was wavelength that I could use to contact our mobile aquatic base. But even if you found out what that wavelength was, it wouldn't help you." explained Eisen.

"What do you want to accomplish here? Right now, my people are fighting against yours." said Lt. Surge.

"My people too. I managed to free a group of cooks and, from what I have seen, right now the whole ship is in chaos. The only problems now are you and that oversized squid." added Red.

"Yes. It seems like this is a loss for us. There's no sense in trying to get the items put up for auction. That's why I'll contact the ones in our base and have them crush this ship by using Tentacruel... As soon as I deal with you two, that is."

"You should count again." a familiar voice sounded from above.

The three of them looked up and saw Green and Phantom Venin descending from the sky while hanging onto the latter's Golbat. They landed halfway between the gangster and their allies. Red immediately ran over to them and hugged Green.

"You're safe!" he shouted "You don't know how worried I've been!"

"Stop clinging onto me. Besides, you look like you've been to hell and back. How reckless were you?" responded his rival.

"And you returned?" Red completely ignored Green's remark, instead turning his attention to the Phantom who tried to hide how embarrassed he was, since Red seemed to regain his trust towards him.

"I... Yeah, I'm back. But how did the situation turn into this?!" the thief asked while pointing above giant tentacles slowly moving above them.

Red shrugged "Welllll... We just have to beat that thing."

"I don't think you understand what the word "just" mea..." the Phantom started, but was immediately interrupted by a mix of wind, electricity and a loud sound, which caused him to flinch.

When he looked to the side, he realized that he was saved, probably at the last second, by Lt. Surge's Raichu who stopped Machamp's punch with his Volt Tackle. The four-armed Pokemon jumped back.

"What is wrong with you people?!" shouted Lt. Surge "This isn't a goddamn tea party where you can just chit-chat all you like. If you aren't gonna fight, get the hell out of here!"

"Alright." Green assumed a more serious expression as he began to analyze the situation "Red!"

"Yes?"

"Can you handle this guy by yourself?" the rival asked while pointing towards Faust.

Red hesitated a little, but after looking at Eevee, he grew in confidence "Absolutely!"

After saying that, he stepped in front of Surge and his Pokemon who were clearly ready to begin fighting against Machamp.

"What are you on about?!" the leader yelled angrily at Green.

"Red doesn't have any flying Pokemon so he can't get high enough to deal with that. We're gonna need you and your Magneton!"

While the two of them were occupied with that, Red released Charmander and Magikarp from their pokeballs and eyed down Eisen.

"Huh... So you return for more. I see that you've also began to crave for battle." Faust smiled while licking his lip, looking more fierce than the boy remembered.

Meanwhile, the other three already flew up to a significant height. Surge and Raichu held onto Magneton, Phantom Venin yet again attached Golbat to his back while also lending his Porygon to Green. As they ascended even more, Green glanced towards the entrance to the corridor where they left Jon to protect Fille, since having them there for the fight against the Tentacruel would be too troublesome.

"This place will be your grave, boy!" Faust shouted "Machamp, kill them all!"

The fighting Pokemon didn't need any more orders. It used Bulk Up to pump itself up even more before starting to run towards the group of enemies.

"Charmander, Smokescreen!"

The lizard released from his mouth a dark cloud which surrounded and blinded their opponent.

"This again?!" shouted Faust who, although Red couldn't see him, sounded like he was getting impatient "If you think you're gonna run away again, you're mistaken!"

Machamp started blindly attacking in random directions. Using his keen fighting sense, he knew that the foes were somewhere close to him so he decided to put his luck to a test.

"For someone that strong, that guy doesn't seem very smart." Red commented to Charmander who was patiently waiting in front of his trainer "If he was, he would knew this was a set up for our next move. We talked about it for like 30 seconds while running here so let's hope for the best... Eevee, use Quick Attack Version C!"

The dog began running in circles around their opponent just like he would while preparing for Mirror Room, but at a precisely right moment, Magikarp also jumped into the fray. The water Pokemon used Bounce. Eevee was running in patterns that would allow the fish to use him as a platform to bounce back right after hitting the opponent. Since the speed of Bounce grew exponentially, the dog also had to give it his all by keeping up. At that point, both of them were so focused that they couldn't even tell if they attacks were damaging the Machamp. They only learned of their success when the fighting Pokemon's guard broke down and one of the attacks caused him to fly a couple meters up and crash into the floor with a huge impact. When they saw that, they stopped. The two of them were breathing heavily while also looking satisfied with what they accomplished. Meanwhile, their trainer looked at Faust's shocked face through the dissipating cloud while announcing this new combination's name "Bouncy Castle!"

The gangster gathered himself surprisingly quick and, while coldly staring down Red, ordered his Pokemon "Machamp. Get up this instant."

The four-armed monster didn't move for a short while, making Red unsure of how he should proceed but when he saw that it began using two of its arms to prop itself up while getting to a sitting position, he immediately gave another command "Charmander, Flame Charge!"

The fighting Pokemon saw his opponent approaching but still hasn't recovered from the previous attack, so the scorching tackle from the lizard knocked it back, further destroying the floor. It got through the pain and managed to use one of its arms to take a swing at Charmander who was standing on its chest, but thanks to the effect of Flame Charge, the fire Pokemon was fast enough to do a backwards somersault and use Ember to shoot at the opponent while in air, causing Machamp to be set on fire.

Faust wiped sweat from his forehead but tried to remain calm "Machamp... Get. Up."

The Pokemon used its sheer will to get through the pain and while roaring loudly, it used all of its arms to free himself from being stuck in the floor and to go up a couple meters into air. While there, it used another Bulk Up. While still burning, with fury in its eyes, it assumed the stance used for Cross Chop as it began falling towards Red. The boy tried to jump back but was too slow.

He closed his eyes in fear and felt something hit him before he fell to the floor. It was less painful than he thought it would be, but when he opened his eyes, he saw the reason for that. Magikarp must have used Bounce to jump in front of him and the thing he felt was the fish's body falling on top of him. The water Pokemon lost consciousness from that powerful hit, so the boy immediately returned it to its pokeball and looked at Machamp who, instantly after defeating one opponent, decided to change its target and started running towards Charmander who was somewhere behind it.

. . .

While Red's battle was taking place, Green and the others managed to get up high enough that they would have a good view of the dome on Tentacruel's head. The one's controlling it must have recognized them as a threat since a couple giant tentacles started immediately moving in their direction. The three of them managed to swerve and avoid them since their speed was less worrisome than their size.

"So? You acted like you have some kind of plan, boy genius?" Phantom Venin asked while looking at Green.

"I swear, if you call me "boy genius" again, I will chokeslam you." the boy answered without actually showing any anger.

"Wait, what?"

"More importantly..." Green continued while ignoring the Phantom "...You just have to get inside while we distract Tentacruel."

The thief looked in direction of the dome, trying to understand what Green had in his mind, while dropping a little to avoid another tentacle attack "That's your plan? I know I'm the third best thief in the world but I think you're expecting a little too..."

"Abra, then Clefable and Gastly."

"Wha-? I..." the Phantom stopped for a short while to decipher why the teenager listed his Pokemon in that order, and when he finally reached a conclusion he immediately took out one of his pokeballs "Alright. I've got it. Go, Abra!"

The psychic Pokemon got a big scare when it realized how high it was released but calmed down when it saw that it was held in its trainer's arms.

"Teleport us over there." the thief ordered while pointing towards the dome.

Before he could tell, they were already standing on top of the metal building. From up close, it seemed smaller than what he first thought. He was about to take out the next two pokeballs when he saw two parts of the dome raise and reveal what looked like guns pointed at him. Both of them shot out what looked like electrified nets, but using clever maneuvering and Golbat's Air Slash, he managed to come out unscathed. Without wasting any more time, he sent Clefable and Gastly out of their pokeballs. Both of them managed to slip into the dome, hopefully without being noticed, the first one by using its Minimize trick and the other thanks to its gaseous form allowing it to fit between the plating.

After a couple moments, a hatch in the middle of the dome, which hand no handles or any other way to get in manually from the outside, opened, revealing Clefable who used its fingers to make a victory sign to its trainer. The Phantom jumped inside and looked at three members of Darkness Gang who were knocked out thanks to his Pokemon. He went towards the console which must have been responsible for controlling the giant Pokemon since it showed various graphs focused on its state and responsiveness.

"Soooo... If I smash this thing, it'll stop following its directive or whatever and go away? Then let's get to it!" after saying that, he lifted his leg and smashed it down into the machinery, causing a wave of electrical discharges to run through the entire thing. Thankfully, he had rubber shoes which prevented him from getting zapped.

"Oookay. Now what?"

Suddenly, the dome started to shake, and before he could grab onto something, the thief landed on the floor. He quickly hid all of the Pokemon beside Golbat in their pokeballs before going outside through the hatch to check out what was going on. When he saw one of the tentacles about to smash him and the building, he ordered Golbat to give it its all, and the thief barely managed to escape and meet up with the other two who were also busy avoiding the tentacles.

"What's going on?! I did what you wanted!" he yelled at Green.

"I guessed correctly that Darkness Gang couldn't control something so big but I was wrong in thinking it would just leave the ship alone after being freed. It probably realized that it was being controlled against its will and since we're the first ones it saw, it thinks we're responsible." explained the teenager.

"What now?!"

"We fight!" announced Lt. Surge.

When another tentacle moved in his direction, he took out a knife and used it to stab into the giant Pokemon so that he could hang onto it. He soon took out another knife to get himself a better hold. All this time, Raichu was grabbing onto its trainer's leg.

"Raichu, use Volt Tackle!"

The electric Pokemon climbed the leader's body and struggled for a while to not be thrown off from the tentacle, but after getting a good grip on the situation, it caused it's body to be covered in electricity as it run towards Tentacruel's head at an amazing speed, finally delivering a powerful attack. The giant beast seemed to notice it, and even felt the pain, but it was probably like a human being hit with a ping-pong ball.

Nonetheless, the leader managed to get its attention. In fact, he hoped that it would be too focused on fighting him and the other two trainers to deal any damage to the ship. Unfortunately for them, after noticing that Lt. Surge was climbing of the tentacles, it started swinging it around, finally deciding that the best way to get rid of him would be to crush him into the ship. The leader managed to jump off, and after losing sight of him, the water Pokemon lifted the tentacle from the hole it made in one of the roofs.

"I haven't felt a thrill like this in a long time." Surge said to himself happily after jumping down into the corridor bellow, since he didn't want the opponent to see him approaching.

It turned out that Raichu was also thrown off and followed him inside the ship.

"What is going on out there?" the leader heard a familiar voice while trying to guess the quickest way back to the place above which the battle was taking place.

It was Michael and a couple of the people who came with him from Vermilion, including Blue, who previously disappeared, with a Zubat sitting on her shoulder.

"How do I say this? We're... fighting like a main boss from a video game, while also having one person fight a real main boss." the leader answered.

Blue stepped in front of the group, visibly worried "Is there a boy called Red fighting together with you?"

"Uh... Yeah. Kinda. We have to stop the giant monster so he's alone right... And there she goes..." before the man could finish, the girl already ran off as fast as she could "...But what about you guys? Have you handled the other ones?"

"It seems so." said the sailor "We've also managed to find the device which was jamming communications so I'm in contact with the control room. They'll let me know if they manage to regain control of the ship."

"Okay then. Can you lend me your communicator?"

"What for?" the sailor asked, even though he was already handing over the device.

"I think there is something that may help us."

"Do you want us to come with you?"

"No, no. We'll deal with this somehow. You have to search the ship for any injured people. I saw a person who hit themselves in the head during that shaking before. We don't know if someone hasn't been badly wounded in some way."

"Yes, Sir!" Michael and the others saluted the leader before splitting up to search for anybody who could need help.

Meanwhile, Lt. Surge followed in Blue's footsteps, although he almost lost sight of her.

. . .

"Charmander, run away!" Even though there was little time, Red made sure to give an order which made it clear that the lizard was supposed to escape the oncoming attack on foot, rather than through air.

The fire Pokemon listened and started sprinting with its increased speed being enough to dodge the swings of Machamp's punches, but instead of avoiding it completely, he went between the opponent's legs and used his claws on both of them before ending up on the other side and stopping himself by scratching up the floor. The fighting Pokemon slowly turned around, while looking menacingly. Before it had a chance to do anything, something flashed before its eyes and it turned its head to see what it was. Phantom Venin looked at it with a big grin while starting to ascend as a part of what looked like an arch fly-by.

Machamp barely had a chance to look in the other direction when it heard something else approaching. One of Tentacruel's tentacles, probably trying to follow the thief, came down in a swinging motion. Red and his Pokemon, as well as Faust, were far enough that they only felt the rippling wind, but Machamp had nowhere to run and took the full force of the hit. It swept it up and sent it somewhere high and far, beyond anyone's sight. They stood there for a short while, with their mouths ajar, not able to believe what just happened.

Finally, Red turned towards the gangster "Sooo... You've got any more Pokemon?"

Judging from how embarrassed and angry the man looked, the boy deduced that, in some weird way, the victory was his. Then, Eisen tried to run away but without needing to receive any orders, Charmander enveloped itself in fire and, in an instant, he and Eevee used Flame Charge and Quick Attack to deliver powerful blows to the back of the criminal, which sent him into a wall. He lost consciousness and about half of his teeth before falling to the floor. Red came up to check if he was still breathing, since he had a nasty nosebleed and a bruised face, but it seemed like he would recover.

"That was kinda unsatisfying." stated the trainer.

He looked around for a while, and after finding one of the tentacles which were holding onto the ship, specifically the one closest to where he was, he returned his Pokemon to their pokeballs to give them a little rest before he started running there. Mere seconds after he disappeared by jumping over a railing, Blue reached the place in which the boy just was, but after seeing that nobody was there, she ignored the signs of the battle that just took place, and continued further through the door next to which was the unconscious Faust.

. . .

"Why did you fly so low?" Green asked while his path crossed with the Phantom's, while both of them were trying to avoid the tentacles.

"I just lent some help to our ally. But I guess he won't be joining us since you said he doesn't have a flying Pokemon." responded the thief.

"Seeing how reckless he's been all day, I wouldn't be surprised if..." the boy had to stop for a short while since the incoming attack separated him from the other person even though both of them managed to avoid it quite easily.

"What were you saying?"

"Red seemed like he fought as if he didn't care what would happen to him." Green changed the sentence to another one that would make more sense and since he felt what he wanted to say at first could influence what was going to happen in some inexplicable way.

"Is he always like that?"

"Hard to tell. I met him twice before but today is the most time we spent together. Although, during our first meeting he was being chased by a bunch of Spearow's, fell in a river and was almost to be pecked to death before I arrived."

Phantom Venin looked as if he started to consider if Red was right in the mind. While using Golbat to blow away one of the tentacles with a Wing Attack, he asked "But what were you going to say?"

"I... Uh... I just wanted to joke that if Red's fight is over, he will probably run up one of those tentacles, kinda like Lt. Surge but I don't think even he would be that cra..." while talking, something caught Green's attention, and he almost lost his grip on the Porygon when he realized that he really should have kept his mouth shut.

It seemed like Red found the knives, which were shaken off by Tentacruel after being left in him by the Gym leader, and was using them in a similar manner, but moving much slower since he had to climb vertically, although seemingly easier since it wasn't one of the tentacles used for fighting. Green was so amazed by this that he didn't notice an approaching attack in time and although he wasn't hit, he opened his hands and started falling down. Porygon tried to catch up to him, but the teenager remained calm and saved himself by calling onto his Ivysaur and using Vine Whip to catch onto a funnel. The two of them descended safely to a roof when suddenly they heard someone make a shocked sound.

"You followed me all the way here to get your money back?" Blue, to whom those words belonged, looked as if she was serious about that question.

Green looked at her in confusion since she took him off guard "Are you an idiot?"

"Are you trying to make me angry?"

Green ignored her when he saw Porygon approaching him "Whatever it is you want, I don't have time. I have to get back up there."

"Back up whe..." the girl's face went white when she saw the massive Pokemon and its many tentacles moving around in the sky "...What is thaaaaat?!"

"Ugh. So loud. How did you manage not to notice it?" he asked while covering his ears, before pointing Porygon to land since he came to the conclusion that it would be easier to sit on it instead of hanging onto it.

"I was super busy trying to find someboooo...! There he issss!" the girl shouted while pushing the boy aside since he was partially blocking her view of Red whom she noticed, already pretty high on the tentacle he was climbing.

"Can you..." Green didn't have time to give his next complain, since Blue suddenly pushed him off the Porygon he was trying to sit on and took the spot for herself "What are you doing?!"

"Fly!" the girl seemed so sure of what she wanted that the Pokemon felt like he couldn't refuse and immediately took off.

"Wait up! How am I..." Green stopped himself since he realized that from the place he was sitting on, he could see up her skirt, so he quickly turned his head "Wait... Was she...?"

Already raising above the funnels, Blue realized that contrary to what she thought previously, she didn't waste her time by stopping to "borrow" a swimsuit from one of the shops on the ship, since she didn't want to worry about her skirt during battles, although she was already considering changing her wardrobe a little since she needed some better clothes for the upcoming, colder months.

Just as Lt. Surge arrived near where Tentacruel's main body was hovering over, he heard a buzzing sound near his belt. He reached for the communicator he borrowed from Michael "This is Lt. Surge, the Gym leader of Vermilion City, speaking. What's going on?"

"Yes. We've heard from one of ours that the people on land sent you here, Sir." said the person on the other end "We've got some news. We've managed to repair the damages, at least for now and we should be able to change our course but something is weighing us down. We can't see what it is but we won't be able to move unless we get rid of it."

The leader looked up at their foe while thinking over a plan he came up with earlier "How fast are we going?"

"Excuse me?"

"I don't care about knots. Just give me a percentage."

"Uh... About 30% of our maximum speed? But why?"

"Go full speed." Surge said while grinning since his prediction could come true.

"But, I... We don't know if the ship can take it... We may lose control again if we do it..."

"Just do as I say, soldier!"

"Aaah! Yes, Sir!" the person on the other end sounded afraid, but right after that, they began using the machinery, judging by the noises that the leader could hear over the communicator.

"It's... It's working! We are beginning to move towards Vermilion City again! I..."

Suddenly, the other person stopped talking and all Surge could hear was white noise. There could be a number for reasons for that, including another jamming device being turned on, or the ship controls malfunctioning due to strain they were putting on them. But the important part was that they were moving towards Vermilion City since that was the only thing needed for Surge's plan, which was to run the ship into land a safe distance from the city. He suspected that the monster would either be knocked out or that after realizing his disadvantage on land, it would give up and go back into the sea.

"Okay. Now it's time to get back into the action." he said before blowing as hard as he could into a whistle he took out from his pocket.

Thanks to that, Magneton, who was until then assisting Phantom Venin, swooped down and without stopping for a second, allowed its trainer and Raichu to grab onto it. Soon, they were back in the sky again, just in time to meet up with Blue who arrived on Porygon.

"Blue? So this is where you went?"

"You know her?" the Phantom asked while making a barrel roll to avoid a tentacle "And why is she riding my Porygon?"

"I don't have time for you. Where did he disappear to?"

"Who are you talking about?" the thief tried to stay calm, although her attitude was getting a little on his nerves.

"I'm talking about Red. I saw him climbing one of the tentacles but now I can't tell which one it was."

"Speaking about tentacles..." Lt. Surge looked around "...did they stop?"

The other ones also realized that fact, so to gain an understanding of why that happened, all of them directed their eyes towards Tentacruel's main body. The giant Pokemon was blinking nervously and trying to look at something in different ways, similar to how a human would do if he wasn't sure that something was on their nose. Blue focused her eyes before giving out a gasp of surprise. The reason she couldn't see Red was that he was standing in the shadow cast by the upper part of Tentacruel's body, atop the highest point of its front horn, barely visible to them and to the enemy.

"Is he really that crazy? Green said that Red has no flying Pokemon. If he falls, he's done." commented the Phantom who looked as worried as if he himself was in the boy's situation.

"Porygon, we must go forwa..."

"Wait!" Lt. Surge shouted to stop the girl from interfering "I thinks he has a plan."

"What do you mean?" the thief wondered.

"If he's that close, Tentacurel can't hit him without risking injuring one of its eyes."

After hearing that, everybody decided to give Red a chance to do what he wanted. During they short talk, he released Eevee and Charmander from their pokeballs and was already giving them instructions.

"Alright! Let's go!"

At Red's command, Charmander began using Smokescreen in much larger quantity than usual to make sure that it would get in Tentacruel's way. To get rid of the clouds of black smoke, the water Pokemon brought two of its tentacles close to its face and started slowly moving them up and down to regain his vision, but Red's team was waiting exactly for that. After deciding that it would be better to focus on only one tentacle, Eevee used a Superstar to hit it since, the monster proably wouldn't even feel a normal Swift. After that, Charmander set himself on fire and at the exact same moment, all of them lept towards the tentacle hit by the dog.

Charmander used Flame Charge, Eevee used Quick Attack while Red just put all of his strength into a punch. Their combined effort managed to push the tentacle off its course and cause it to stab Tentacruel in the eye. The water Pokemon cried out in pain so loudly that the observers had to cover their ears. But during that, Blue noticed that although Red returned his Pokemon back to their balls, he was about to crush into a roof. She kicked Porygon's side to make order him in that direction since he wouldn't be able to hear her, but even though it listened, she knew she was too far away.

"After giving that some thought, this wasn't such a good plan." the boy said to himself while only a couple meters off the ground.

"No shit." Red heard just as he felt something wrap around his leg, causing him to stop only around 40 centimeters from the roof.

Although he was upside down, he immediately recognized Green and his Ivysaur who saved him from certain death.

"You can let him down." Green ordered his Pokemon who retracted his vine, promptly causing Red to drop on the roof, after which the boy helped his rival get up "At least it seems like your plan worked."

He pointed towards their opponent who was trying to move its body around as much as it was possible, which wasn't a lot, all because its right eye was hurt so badly that it was using the left one in order to find the one responsible for its injury.

"Any more bright ideas?" Green asked with a slight smile, since after such a stunt, he was sure that whatever his friend would come up with next would be even crazier.

Suddenly, Red's Eevee went outside of his pokeball on his own, much to surprise of both boys. The Pokemon looked as if he was in a trance when he approached Green. The teenager kneeled down to see what was going on. The dog sniffed around and barked at the pocket of the boy's pants.

"Do you have something there?" Red asked while also getting down to better see what the whole thing was about.

"Just this." Green said while showing the Crystal Eye he got from Phantom Venin.

"Can I?" Red asked while reaching toward his rival who handed him the gem "Didn't the announcer at the auction say something about how the owner of the Crystal Eye can see the future?"

"Wha-? You think that's actually true? But it didn't do anything for me and, from what I saw, it also didn't help Phantom Venin. So why would it start working now?"

"Let me try this." Red said as he held the gem next to Eevee's head.

The dog's eyes and the gem itself started flashing in a variety of colors. The boys looked at it with amazed faces.

"See? The Eye didn't work because it needed a Pokemon."

"Even if Eevee can see the future, how is that going to help us?" Green was still skeptical.

Without saying a word, Red put his head on the other side of the gem as if in that way, some of Eevee's knowledge was supposed to be passed onto him. After some time, the light stopped and Eevee also returned to his normal self. The Crystal Eye started changing until it turned into a normal rock.

"What the hell just happened?" Green grabbed his head since thinking about a logical explanation for what just happened was too hard on him.

"What are you guys doing?" said the voice of Lt. Surge.

The boys looked at him and the others who just landed next to them since they were curious what was taking them so long on that roof. Blue, torn by happiness and embarrassment caused by seeing Red, hid behind the Phantom, hoping that her friend would be too focused on beating the giant Tentacruel to notice her, but she immediately caught his attention. He approached her quickly while pushing Phantom Venin out of the way. He hugged her tightly. At first she didn't know how to respond but when he pulled away and she saw his smile, she couldn't help but also smile herself.

"Your face. You're bleeding. And your clothes. You look terrible." she said while barely managing to keep in tears.

"Well, you look as good as always. But we don't have the time for that right now. I need you for my plan." he said while making a more serious face.

"Of course." she said after gathering herself since she remembered the situation they were in "I'll do whatever you need."

"Your Squirtle... No, it should be a Wartortle by now... It knows Rain Dance, right?"

"Yes. I thought it would be useful to teach it to him. And it evolved during my Gym battle today."

"Watch out!"

Before anyone could tell what was going, a sudden flash of flight blinded them just as they heard a loud sound of something being hit. When their vision returned, they saw Gallop who arrived to use Flame Wheel to knock away a tentacle that was about to hit them. The group looked to the side and saw Jon and the recovered Fille climbing onto the roof.

"Thanks for the save." said Green.

"No problem." answered Jon who went right to patting his steed for a job well done.

"Now, everyone needed for my plan is here," announced Red "Phantom Venin!"

"Yes?!" the thief stood at attention, although a little curious as to what his part was.

"You're the distraction!"

"Wait, what?"

"Go!"

"Alright ,alright. You don't have to shout at me!" the Phantom responed before taking to air using Golbat's power.

"The rest of you, hear me out."

The group gathered around Red to listen to his idea.

. . .

"Is it just me or is this guy speeding up?" Phantom Venin talked to calm himself down as he tried to get Tentacruel to focus solely on him "What are the others doing anyway?"

As if to answer his question, Blue's Zubat approached him and, by making various squeaky noises, communicated with the thief's Golbat that it was time to get fall back and leave the stage to others. The Phantom called Porygon and Gastly, who have been helping him out, into their pokeballs before landing on a different move to which the rest of the group seemed to have moved to, to which he deduced that it was probably to have a better position to execute their plan since the place they gathered in was straight across from the opponent.

"Are you ready?!" Red yelled while looking at all of them.

He was answered by a resounding cheer from all beside the Phantom who was still in the dark as to what their plan was.

"The first step belongs to us." Lt. Surge said while looking at Blue.

The girl nodded and after that, both of them put their hands forward as if trying to reach the tentacles that began approaching them en masse after Tentacruel followed the Phantom's flight. The leader's Magneton flew towards the oncoming attacks with the girl's Bellsprout hanging from it upside down. When the tentacles tried to reach them, Magneton sent out Magnet Bomb's, one for each of the limbs that were in the way. When they stuck to their targets, Magneton used its magnetic abilities to cause them to be pushed away before causing the bombs to detonate, creating a cavalcade of explosions. When the enemy was stunned by that move, he was about to learn the true meaning of that word when Bellsprout released Stun Spore, causing the tentacles to freeze in place and leaving a clear path for the others.

After doing their part, the duo of Pokemon moved out of the way. The monstrous foe was confused by the sensations that came over his body but something even stranger got his attention as he looked at the sky above which began to change. The cause of that were the efforts put forward by Red's Oddish and Blue's Wartortle who were using Sunny Day and Rain Dance respectively. And although it was the middle of the night, a ray of sunlight appeared above them with a rainy cloud right beside it.

It was like the sky split into two parts but only above that ship. Green's Ivysaur, Red's Charmander stood in the sunny part while Surge's Raichu placed himself in the rain. Set up in that way, the Pokemon received the positive effects of the weather. Charmander and Gallop felt their powers grow, which was doubly true for the lizard since after all the battling, his ability also kicked in. Ivysaur almost immediately gathered a much larger amount of energy than he would when normally preparing his bulb.

"Our path is clear! Our victory is certain! It's time to unite in this finishing move!" Red couldn't stop his excitement about the tactic he came up with "Charmander, Ember!"

Although Red didn't have time to notice it since everything happened so quickly, the power up his Pokemon got at that time gave him so much power that his attack changed into Flamethrower.

"Ivysaur, Solar Beam!"

"Gallop, Fire Blast!"

"Raichu, Thunder!"

The four attacks shot out simultaneously and converged in one place but instead of interfering, somehow managed to combine and turn into one, pure white beam which travelled towards at the enemy at an astonishing speed. Red managed to add the name he came up with for this attack at the exact moment it reached its target "Rainbow Cannon!"

The name referred to the rainbow which formed above the ship due to the combination of sunlight and rain. What was unexpected was that the explosion caused by the attack hitting their opponent was also made up of the seven colors.

Before the cloud of dust could set, Lt. Surge put his hand on Red's shoulder to signify that he was proud and thankful that he could be part of the boy's plan "That was something else. But how did you know that it would defeat Tentacruel?"

"I didn't." the teenager responded.

"What? You didn't?"

"Because it didn't. It didn't defeat it, I mean." Red said while pointing towards their opponent who started to be visible again.

The leader took a step back when he saw that the monster, although visibly damaged by their attack, was even angrier than before, even though it was still too paralyzed to do anything to them. It also couldn't keep itself up in the air anymore and fell down but still could hang onto the ship while being in front of it with only half of its head visible.

"Then what the hell was your plan for?!" Surge yelled at the boy.

"Well, I wanted to weaken him so that the iceberg would be enough to finish him off. If we were to fight him longer, we would definitely lose."

"Wait up. Iceberg?"

As if in response to the leader's question, the ship shook even more fiercely than when Tentacruel first grabbed onto it. Jon caught Fille who slipped and was about to fall. The girl blushed a little before jumping right back on her feet. During this, Surge's Magneton returned to its trainer and after letting Bellsprout down, allowed the man to fly up with itself. From air he could see that St. Anne was swimming through a small group of icebergs and luck would have it that thanks to Red' plan, Tentacruel took the brunt of a crush that would otherwise probably sink the ship.

The boat changed course a little and their opponent slowly slipped into the ocean. It seemed to still be conscious but much too weak to bother with chasing after them so instead it went straight underwater probably to never try to face any human again. The leader landed on the roof and immediately dropped to the floor, sweating all over his face, since he couldn't understand how Red was able to predict what would happen and was too afraid to ask. The weirdest part was that the thing with the iceberg was similar to how he wanted to beach the Tentacruel near Vermilion City.

"...Surge... Lt. Surge!" he heard from somewhere but was too overwhelmed to know if it was a real voice or not.

"It seems your comm is going off." pointed out Green.

The man quickly took it out of his pocket and responed "Yes? It's me."

"This is the control room. We have good news. Although us going into full speed caused the controls to get stuck and we thought we would crush into Vermilion, whatever just happened out there damaged the machinery just enough that we returned to the previous speed and will be able to control it enough to safely bring us to the port. How are things on your end, Sir?"

"Just... great." he answered before turning off the communicator and laying his whole body on the roof, allowing himself a big smile.

The others also heard the news. Jon was so happy that he accidentally lifted Fille with both his arms. For a second, she wondered about how her feelings changed throughout the whole experience and realized that that her heart skipped a bit several times and it wasn't because she was charmed by Red or Jon but because she never had so much experience involving Pokemon. Although, she still felt like Jon could make for a good boyfriend and that she should try to talk with her father about it since he seemed to get along with Jon's parent.

Meanwhile, Red, who followed the Phantom who was trying to sneak off, spoke up "Running away?"

The thief felt a shiver run down his spine as he carefully turned around to look at the teenager "Are we really going to do this? You look like you're about to pass out and I'm pretty tired myself. Besides I've given you guys back the gem, so if this is like a matter of honor thing I'm..."

He stopped when he saw that Red was reaching towards him with a handshake. He looked at the boy's hand and then back up to his face in confusion.

"If you ever try to steal anything when I'm around, I promise that I will stop you."

Phantom Venin smiled and grabbed Red's hand "You're on. If I ever lose to you, I'll stop calling myself the third best thief in the world."

"I've been wondering about that. Why are you "the third"? Who is the second?"

"Oh. That's my master. He taught me everything I know."

"And the first?"

The Phantom seemed to suddenly have a nostalgic look in his eyes "Well... That's someone even more amazing."

After that, the thief gathered himself and, using Golbat's wings, disappeared into the night sky.

Red turned around and saw Green waiting for him. Realizing that he must have seen the whole thing, judging by his rival's slight smile, Red also got a big grin on his face. Yet after reuniting with the rest of the group, he realized that Blue disappeared somewhere. He tried asking Lt. Surge about it but the leader knew only that the girl was going to go rest somewhere.

Red knew that wasn't the truth. Although when they talked they seemed to get along as much as they did when they travelled together, the girl seemed worried about meeting him again, especially since they didn't get any time to talk the whole thing over. Red just hoped that they would be able to see each other soon and discuss the whole thing. But at that moment he just wanted to rest so he sat down and together with his Pokemon and friends, looked at the starry sky as they slowly moved towards the port.

"Soooo... Is anybody else curious why there was an iceberg in the sea?" Green asked, but the rest seemed to ignore him since they were too tired out.

. . .

About two days after the exhausting ship adventure, Phantom Venin met up with his associates who freed the famous collector after receiving a message that their leader's mission was done. They set up a temporary base at which they waited for the Phantom. One of them was an old man who looked like a typical butler and was even serving tea and cookies as the thief walked into the room.

"How's it going everybody?" he asked while munching on one of the cookies.

"Don't give us that!" a young, female voice came from a dark corner of the room "You said that you failed to get the Crystal something or other, and after we went to all this trouble!"

"But I gained something even better."

"And what is that?" she sounded rather skeptical.

"A rival." he responed cheerfully.

"What?! But I'm your rival! How is that even..."

"Yeah, yeah." the Phantom just waved his hand to tell her to stop since he knew how heated up she could get "Sebastian, give me the map."

The old man reached into a cabinet and took out a piece of paper which Phantom Venin unrolled in front of him. It showed a large part of the world with an amazing number of regions, including far off lands that people in Kanto probably never heard about.

"We'll return to this place next year." he said while reaching into his bag and taking out a small, silver coin "Now, let's decide where our next heist is gonna be."

He flipped the coin into air where it spun for a second before landing on the map. He picked it up and looked at the name of the place.

"So... Fiore it is."

* * *

That was something else. I'll try to be brief since you already had to read through all that(well, you didn't have to but you know what I mean).

I have a bad habit of adding to the story anything I come up at the moment of writing. In the original plan for the chapter the only characters that were supposed to appear were Red, Green, Phantom Venin and Darkness Gang. All the other ones were added since I felt it wouldn't be interesting enough if I just had like a story where it went like: Red and Green are hired - Auction begins, the Phantom appears - Darkness Gang appears - Red and Green get help from the Phantom - End. But even If I like all the stuff with Jon, Fille and my set up for the next time Red and Blue meet, there were still parts where after I wrote them I was like "Why did I write about furniture for like 5 minutes?" Or that part which seems like I'm giving a lecture about resonable drinking(I don't drink much anymore but when I did I almost always got wasted so it's not like I'm anyone to talk, haha) But I guess that's just how I am.

I hope anyone who follows this story can understand why it took me so long by seeing the length of this chapter. I really can't write more than around a 1000 words a day and not get tired by it and I also had to deal with getting my bachelor's degree and some other stuff. I really ramped up the speed in the last 2 weeks.

But back to the story. Some quick interesting facts. At first, I wanted to name Superstar "Ride on Shooting Star" like The Pillows song but I forgot about it when it came to that part and at first I was thinking that it always would be a combination move but later Eevee used it by himself so the original name wouldn't fit. Since the most famous phantom thief, Lupin is from France I decided to give my phantom thief a french name. That is why he's Venin which means venom. I used that to come up with names for other characters. Jon Quille Laiteron means Daffodil Milkweed in french. Fleur in Fleurland stands for flower. Fille means girl in french(I got really lazy with this one). Although you probably already forgot about him, there was a character called Rajul Muhimun whose name means important man in arabic. His kingdom's name, Rimal Hara, stands for Hot Sands. Faust Eisen is german for fist iron. I wanted him to have a cool name and german has some neat sounding words so I tried it out and it worked perfectly.

I tried my best but I'm still worried that there is too much exposition in some places and too much action in other ones. Like, really Faust? Who the hell cares about your stupid war? I might actually write some side story about it in the future if I have a good idea for it. I definitely won't write about Phantom Venin's adventures in Fiore but just like he said, he will return to Kanto in the next year. It will be another special chapter(hopefully shorter than this one) and will happen like 30-40 chapters from now. It will reveal more about the Phantom's past and why he's called the third best thief in the world. Btw. this chapter took place in late august/early september so it was still summer but Red and the others will definitely change clothes in the upcoming chapters and there may even be a Christmas-esque chapter when we reach december.

I don't remember anything else I wanted to talk about. The next chapter will tie up some loose ends from this one before Red will challenge Lt. Surge a chapter later and both of them will probably be rather short(2000-4000 words).

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmander, Pikachu, Oddish, Magikarp.

Badges: 2

Green. Team: Ivysaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee.

Badges: 2

Blue. Team: Bellsprout, Wartortle, Zubat.

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: ?, ?.

Peter. Team: ?, ?, ?.


	15. 14: Shoot to Chill

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 14: Shoot to Chill.

"Go talk to him."

"No. You go talk to him."

"I don't wanna."

"But somebody has to tell him that we arrived."

"Well, it ain't gonna be me, that's for sure."

"Me neither."

The conversation was taking place between two Team Rocket members, one who was guarding a room and another who came with the information that they reached their destination. The small, dark ship they were aboard had to maneuver between the iceberg labyrinth which had less spaces to get through the closer they got to Seafoam Islands. While the twenty person crew of low ranking members were either performing their duties and preparing for the time they would reach land, there was one person who got a room of their own and didn't leave it for the several days since their journey started.

The last time they saw him, he was mostly getting angry at the fact that they couldn't take an aircraft since the islands consisted mostly of uneven, rocky terrains and mountains. They didn't know what he was doing in his room, but they've served under him long enough to know that even if they had an important message for him, he still would get angry if they interrupted him in something important. When the two people quietly argued on who would go inside, the door suddenly opened in front of them, causing both to step back in fear.

"What the hell are you waiting for? Are you that afraid of me?" said Peter, the Team Rocket admin who emerged from the inside of the dark room "If you waste any more of my time by arguing about useless bullshit, I'm going to push your faces against and iceberg until you stick to it and then pull them off, ripping your flesh. I'm gonna do it again and again till even your parents won't be able to recognize you."

Both of them froze in fear as they let him pass between them. One of them looked down to his pants. He was ready to deal with the shame of peeing themself as long as he was safe from Peter's infamous wrath.

"Is everybody ready?" the admin asked after reaching the outside where most of his crew were.

They silently saluted him.

"Alright. Let's catch that bastard."

. . .

"Good morning. I'm here to see... Red." Green had to make a short pause while talking to the woman in the hospital lobby since he realized that he didn't know his friend's last name and they usually needed that when searching on the computer for a patient's room.

"Are you here to see him or are you bringing a gift, Sir?" the nurse asked without looking away from him.

"Uuh... Both? But don't you need to look him up?" he asked, a little confused.

"Oh, no. He already had three people who came to visit him today. He's so popular we had to make one of the closets into a room for all the gifts he received in the last couple days." she explained.

Green didn't completely understand what was going on but he thought it would be easier if he went to the man himself if he wanted answers "So, can you tell me his room number?"

"If you want to see him immediately, he just went through the back doors to our park. He does Pokemon battle with other patients and visitors all the time... But don't tell that to the head nurse since she's rather strict." the last few words were whispered, probably because a woman, who just passed Green, was the person the receptionist was speaking about.

"Thanks for the help" Green said to the nurse while bowing before going for the back doors she mentioned.

The park behind the hospital was full of trees and flower bushes. The paved walkway had several benches and fairly short, black street lamps next to it, some occupied by patients, visitors or hospital workers who were on their break. Green noticed a board pointing out a couple rules such as prohibition of littering and smoking and it seemed like everyone adhered to them. The place was bigger than he would have suspected. While looking around no to miss Red by accident, he heard a noise coming from somewhere in front of him.

After he walked about 30 meters and rounded a big tree in the middle of the park, he saw a round square with a big fountain in the center and a couple benches on the outskirts of the circle. Just like he suspected, the one he was searching for was the person behind the noise he heard. Although still wearing a bandage around his head and dressed in hospital clothes, Red looked completely healthy as he commanded his Pikachu in a battle against a young boy and his Vulpix. The two Pokemon looked like in some kind of synchronized swimming show when jumping through the gaps between the streams of water shooting out from various places in the fountain, each trying to hit the other one while avoiding getting themselves wet.

Suddenly, Pikachu gained the upper hand by using Quick Attack to get behind his opponent and sending it into air. The fox had nowhere to escape while being struck by the rodent's Thunderbolt. The boy called his Pokemon back to its ball before it could hit the pavement. Red came up to him and thanked for the fight while also expressing his hopes for the boy growth as a Pokemon trainer. The child noticed that his father who came to visit his work friend was calling him since they were about to leave, so he bowed to his opponent before running away.

"Hey, Red." Green finally spoke up, since he didn't want to interrupt the fight.

Red let Pikachu jump onto his shoulder before turning towards his friend and greeting him with a handshake. He pointed towards a bench which had a plastic bag next to it and the both of them went over there to take a seat. Red reached into the bag and took out two small cartons of chocolate milk and gave one of them to his rival. Green was a little hesitant since he didn't usually consume sweets but after opening it and taking a sip, he remembered the feelings of how it was to be a little kid and how he always returned home from helping his grandfather and the first thing he would do was to take out a carton of flavored milk from the fridge.

"Sorry that it took me this long to visit you." he said after putting down the carton.

"No problem. I know you must have been busy. They put a guard in front of my room for the first two days since the reporters wouldn't leave, and some even tried to sneak in by pretending to be visitors." Red responded while feeding Pikachu some caramel candy.

"Yeeeah. That's definitely Lt. Surge's fault. Since people heard that he helped save St. Anne, he was invited to a news show and told everyone how it was you who played the biggest role in saving the ship and the city." while saying that, Green scratched himself on the back of the head, since he felt like he was somehow responsible because he refused to take part in any interviews.

"I mean, it's kinda great to get all this attention."

"It is?" Green felt relieved.

"Yeah. Since the ship was full of rich people, a lot of them visited me to give their thanks and it seemed like they didn't know a better way than giving me various gifts."

"Is this part of that too?" Green asked while holding up the chocolate milk.

"Yes. I think I have like half a ton of sweets from some guy who owns a factory that makes it. I've contacted Fille to have her help me in distributing it to orphanages and stuff since I probably won't be able to eat even 1% of that."

"That's understandable. How are they by the way?"

"Who?"

"Fille and Jon."

"Oh. I think they're gonna have an engagement party next week."

"Wait... What?" that statement took Green by surprise.

"I told them I can't attend since I want to get Lt. Surge's badge as soon as possible and try to catch up with Blue."

"Wait, wait, wait. They are getting married?"

"Who?"

"Fille and Jon!"

Red didn't understand why his friend was making such a big deal out of this "I guess? Like, don't you think they kinda fit each other? They're both good looking, both like Pokemon, and both are... Like a shell, sorta."

Green thought about it for a while and responded "Yeeeah... I guess I see what you mean."

He also wanted to ask about Blue, since Red mentioned her, but he stopped himself since he felt like he could say something inappropriate. He still didn't know what exactly the relationship between her and Red was but judging by how his rival acted around her, he had some suspicions that, he decided, would be better kept hidden. While trying to search for another topic, Green remembered something important.

"What about the Crystal Eye?"

"I still have it." Red said while taking out a pendant he had tied around his neck.

Inside of it was the rock which the gem turned into.

"So it didn't turn back."

"Why would it? We're not even sure why it became a stone in the first place."

"Well... Wasn't that because it used up its power by giving you and Eevee a vision of the future?"

Red fell silent for a couple second while making a blank expression "Did... Did something like that happen?"

"What?"

"Maybe it's because of my head injury but I don't completely remember everything from the cruise. But... There was something..."

"Something?"

"Yeah, yeah. There was darkness. And it changed into light. And then another light appeared."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't worry. I've also no idea." after saying that, he started laughing.

"And what about the captain?"

"I showed it to him but he said that I could keep it, since in this state nobody would want to buy it."

Green finished his carton of milk and threw it in a trash bin before getting up. He adjusted his clothes and said "Well, I better get going. I have something important to do. You better get out of here fast so You can catch up to the rest of us."

Red also stood up and looked his rival in the eye "Better watch out. One of these days I'll pass you."

After exchanging a fist bump, the young trainers parted ways.

. . .

Hearing someone knocking on the automatic door to his room, Alex slowly got up from his bed, without stopping watching the TV. He took his card and slid it through the electronic lock, opening the door for a visibly annoyed Angie. He glanced at her and seeing that she probably didn't want to come inside, grabbed her sleeve and pulled her inside since he wanted to watch the whole thing through.

"Let go of me, you fool." she grabbed him by the wrist with her other hand and pushed him away.

"Okay, okay. But whatever you want, be quick about it. I have to finish this." He said without a care.

"Is this some kind of joke? Nobody has seen you for a full day so your underlings got worried that you were sick and you're doing what... Watching TV? For this long?"

"It's not my fault. He's just on all the time."

"What are you talking about?" she raised her brow before deciding to learn herself by looking at what was happening on the screen.

It was a news show covering the St. Anne incident. Even though she didn't care about it personally, she heard some of the other Team Rocket members talking about it since it seemed like Darkness Gang, their biggest rivals, were heavily involved in the situation.

"I've heard that that battle-hungry cretin, Faust was there and managed to not get caught with the rest of the bunch. Are you trying to deduce what he..."

"What? I've no idea what you're talking about."

Angie began to lose patience "Then why are you watching this all-day?!"

"For him! It's him!" Alex answered while putting his finger right against the photograph of Red which was displayed in the corner of the screen.

Angie squinted her eyes as if she was supposed to recognize the person "Who is he?"

"He's the one I told you about! I fought him on Mt. Moon! He's done it again! He's the one who stopped Darkness Gang!"

"I guess he really must be strong. But you said you wanted to recruit him? Although I don't like it, people consider us a criminal organization, similar to Darkness Gang. It seems like he's trying to be some hero of justice by taking on us and them."

"Don't you worry your pretty, little head. The next time I meet him, I'm sure I'll be able to convince him to join us."

"We'll see." she said while a vein popped up on her forehead because of being called pretty by person whose attention was unwanted.

"But why would you even worry about me? It's not like there's anything to do today."

"No. But I got intel that Peter managed to find the location of M2 and is probably trying to catch it right now."

"That bastard!" Alex clenched his fists "If he does it, the boss will surely make him his right hand."

"Yes. So while it's unbecoming of a Team Rocket admin, all we can do is hope that he fails. I don't want you to succeed either. I just didn't want to deal with this anger alone."

"Oh. Alright..."

The girl left the room and the door closed behind her. Alex jumped back on his bed and started to watch TV again, but suddenly he began to turn from side to side while trying to contain his irritation with both of the other admins.

"Gaaah!"

. . .

Peter looked down towards the group of underlings who were slowly climbing the mountain. It wasn't so steep that they would need special equipment, even though they brought it, but they still had to be careful since a lot of it was covered in ice and there was a long way down. The admin overcame that problem by riding atop his Dodrio who could easily judge which places were the best to step onto and quickly managed to get about 200 meters above the rest of the group.

His search was fairly easy since he had the idea of asking Doctor Humane of a way to locate M2. The scientist gave him a device which was used to measure the experiments psychic powers and could locate it from practically any distance whenever it used its abilities in a big way. Though, the doctor, who could not join the searching party because of the injuries he sustained in the explosion, warned Peter that whatever caused M2 to use its powers, could prove to be an even bigger problem than the experiment itself.

As he reached the top of the mountain, the criminal had to tightly grab onto his Pokemon to not be knocked off by a sudden gust of freezing wind. He gathered himself and looked forward with the use of goggles, since the peak was surrounded by a snowstorm which certainly didn't seem natural. The man could see some silhouettes but it was hard to tell what they were. He ordered his Pokemon to carefully approach but as he got closer, a wave of energy pushed them back, together with all the snow, causing the sky to become clear. He took off the goggles and looked at the scene, painted in front, of him in astonishment. The one he was searching for, Mewtwo was kneeling down on one leg and trying to catch his breath, but it also looked weirdly satisfied. Opposite of him was a blue bird, bigger than any flying species Peter ever saw. It looked similarly tired.

When Peter jumped off his Dodrio so he could approach them, they both turned their heads towards him in an instant and neither looked particularly thrilled about his arrival. Mewtwo got up and approached him. It used its telekinetic abilities to pick the man up while making a gesture as if it was grabbing him by the neck. Seeing that, Dodrio tried to help its trainer but before it realized what was happening, the other bird shout out an Ice Beam from its beak, which glued Dodrio's legs to the mountain. Mewtwo closed its eyes and looked like it was focusing on something.

"What... are... you... doing... here... human?" Peter heard a menacing voice speak from nowhere, as if it originated in his head.

Since he didn't respond, Mewtwo opened its eyes and glared at the man. Although it was hard to believe, the criminal arrived at the conclusion that the one who spoke to him was the Pokemon in front of him.

"Of course. Doctor Humane said something about telepathy. But it seems like you're still getting accustomed to our language."

"Speak... up... Don't... waste... my... time..." The Pokemon said while clenching one of its fist as a sign of warning.

"Calm down. Since we can speak to each other, the whole thing will be much easier. You see, our organization put a lot of time, money and effort into creating you and we would like you to come back with us."

"That's not... going to... happen." it seemed like the Pokemon could probe the man's mind to get a better hang of the language but he couldn't read his mind since he would predict what was about to happen.

"Well, it's a shame. It really is. But if you don't want to come in peace... I will haunt you until you give up."

Reacting to those words, two three-fingered, purple hands appeared from within Peter's body and reached towards Mewtwo who, surprised by them, let go of the trainer and jumped back. Peter landed safely on the ground and when he got up, his face looked weirdly deformed. His eyes were more sinister with something similar to an eyeliner surrounding them and his teeth all changed into fangs. The purple hands joined with his own and his whole body started being enveloped in a miasmatic aura. Both Mewtwo and the blue bird looked shocked by that scene.

"You're not human?" the psychic Pokemon asked.

"Oh. I am. It's just... I have this demon inside of me." Peter answered while quietly laughing.

After saying that, he tried to take Mewtwo by surprise and got fairy close, but his opponent realized what was happening in time and used Disable to stop the oncoming attack, even if it didn't know what Peter wanted to do. That stunt angered it to the point where it decided that talking was no longer necessary. Just as it expected, humans couldn't be reasoned with. Its eyes glowed in the pink color as it instantly unleashed a wave of psychic energy which knocked out its enemy. After that, Peter's body returned to normal and it turned out that the thing that caused him to change appearance in the first place was a Haunter that hid itself in the criminal's body and after fainting, fell next to its trainer.

Mewtwo walked up to the Dodrio, which looked terrified of the psychic Pokemon, and used Psycho Cut to cover its hand with energy and release the bird from the icy trap. Using telepathy, it convinced it to take Peter and Haunter on its back and get out of the island. After Dodrio did as told, Mewtwo's angry expression turned to sadness. It turned towards the blue bird. Although at first, it felt unwelcome at Articuno's, since that was the Pokemon's name, island, as they fought every day, covering the sea in icebergs, they came to like and see each other as rivals. But regrettably, Mewtwo was the one who brought enemies to their home.

"Hide for now." he spoke in a way that the legendary bird could understand the best "They're after me, not you. I'll go somewhere else and hope that they'll follow and leave you alone."

As it began raising into air, Articuno fixed his saddened eyes on its friends back. Just when the bird thought their rivalry helped Mewtwo forget its sorrow concerning what it felt towards humans, everything got destroyed and the psychic Pokemon was once again absorbed in a mix of negative emotions as it took off towards parts unknown. The only consolation it got was that the Team Rocket, in fact, never returned to Seafoam Islands. But that just meant that its friend could be going through something horrible after their separation.

* * *

For the first time, I think I really don't have a lot to say about the chapter, other than it was completely changed. In the original plans it was a filler about Red using Oddish and Magikarp to fight Digletts since the special chapter didn't exist and that would be their first fights, but since that wasn't necessary, I focused on some leftovers from the special chapter and also added the whole thing with Peter. I actually started thinking about an explanation for the icebergs as soon as I mentioned them in the special chapter and I decided to have them be remains of a battle between Mewtwo and Articuno but only during writing this chapter, I decided to make them rivals instead of just enemies fighting over territory. The next chapter will have a little more stuff before going into Red's gym battle since I didn't want to slow this thing down. The name of the chapter is a reference to the ACDC song Shoot to Thrill. Also, I regret that I didn't make some kind of Shaman King joke when Peter fused with Haunter.

If you're reading this story, don't be afraid to leave comments. Even a simple "good chapter" would be appreciated. Unless, of course, you didn't like the chapter. Then you can write "bad chapter" if you feel like it.

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmander, Pikachu, Oddish, Magikarp.

Badges: 2

Green. Team: Ivysaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Bellsprout(Bell), Wartortle(Tori), Zubat(?), ?.

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: ?, ?.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.


	16. 15: The True Man's World

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 15: The True Man's World.

"So this is your last day in the hospital?" Michael asked while rummaging through a bowl of candy placed on a shelf next to Red's bed.

"Yeah. I'm actually ready to leave so it's good that you managed to visit me in time. The only thing I'm waiting for are new clothes I had Green order for me since it's been getting colder." the boy answered while peeling a banana for himself, since he quickly got tired of the sweets after eating them in large quantities, especially considering that he didn't get a lot of movement in the time he spent at the hospital.

"So what are you planning to do next?" Michael said while chewing on a chocolate candy covered with coconut flakes.

"I already have a reservation with Lt. Surge for my Gym battle. He went as far as emptying his schedule just so he would be sure that he could take me on, no matter the time I was released."

"Lt. Surge is certainly a man amongst men. He's highly respected by the citizens of Vermilion City. He's kinda like my idol. Well... He and Chuck."

"Chuck? Who's that?"

"He's another manly man whom I aspire to be like. But he's probably not very well known in Kanto."

"You know, I've been wondering... You said something when we first met about wanting to win the Pokemon League, right?" Red looked at him with an unsure face, since there were some things about Michael's statement from that time that didn't make complete sense after he got to know him.

"Yes. And my chances rise every year!" Michael laughed out loud.

"Every year? So you already took part in the Pokemon League?"

"Not "the". I took part in multiple Pokemon Leagues. I switch between Kanto and Johto for each year and I've already tried to win each of them 4 times."

"So you lost 8 Pokemon Leagues?!" Red was so shocked he almost fell from the bed.

"It's not that surprising. Even if I try my best, I spend most of the year working on St. Anne while other people take that time to train. But I've slowly been getting better and even reached the top 16 in the latest Johto League. There's actually a difference between the 2 leagues where the finals in Kanto consist of 32 people and in Johto of 16 so I've actually managed to reach the finals in both regions."

"Wait... That means that this year you will take part in the Kanto League, right?"

"Yeah. Who knows? Maybe we'll even go against each other? But even if you luck out and don't have to fight me, don't get your hopes up. There's already been a miracle three years ago where a newbie trainer won the Kanto League on his first try."

Red pondered those words for a while. Although he trained with Eevee for the last couple years, his decision of becoming a Pokemon trainer and trying to get into the league were pretty much made on a whim. And yet there were people like Michael who tried to become the Pokemon Master for years and didn't achieve their dreams. All that thinking made him remember the conversation he had with Blue before his battle with Brock.

"Do you have a goal hidden behind winning a Pokemon League?" only after asking the question, he realized how rude it may have sounded and covered his mouth.

Thankfully, Michael laughed it off and gave an explanation "It's not really hidden. When I was young, I often visited my grandpa who also was a sailor for many years. The difference was that he had his own ship. By the time I was born, the ship was a wreck and my grandpa was too old to sail anymore but he would often tell me tales of his adventures. One of them told of a Pokemon, a giant, white beast swimming around the North Pole. Although my grandpa saw it, he didn't get any proof of it so many other sailors considered him crazy. Even my own father acted like it was just a made up story. But... The tears in my grandfather's eyes... I know that that Pokemon must exist and I want to prove it. I became a sailor with that goal in mind but while I have the expertise, I don't have enough money for my own ship, not to mention a crew. That's why I want to win the Pokemon League. The prize money won't be enough but it'll definitely help me. But the most important part is the speech the Champion gets to give. I'll use it to promote myself to any potential investors."

"Maaan... That's... I know I shouldn't but I feel like such an asshole when people talk about their dreams."

"So I take it you're a trainer for fun?"

"I'm... I think I hope that through doing this I will realize what I want... But I don't know..."

"Well, even being a trainer for just the sake of it is good. Seeing how far you can go while trying to become better at something is never a bad course. And even if someone becomes a champion and doesn't have any further dreams by then, that person still has a lot of money they can use to help them search for a new goal."

"I'm sorry. I don't want pressure you into taking pity on me. Ignoring your final dream and anything I'll eventually do, our goal for now is the same and that makes as rivals." Red got off the bed and reached forward for a handshake "If we meet in the League, I'll fight you with all I've got."

"The same goes for me." Michael said while shaking the boy's hand.

They stared at each other with burning passion in their eyes for what seemed like an eternity, as if their battle already has begun. Suddenly, they were taken out of it when they heard somebody knocking on the door to the room.

"That's probably the person with my new clothes." Red said while happily jumping over the bed to get to the door, but when he swung them open towards himself, his smile lessened as he realized that it wasn't what he expected.

In front of him was a tall, slim, pale woman clad in a black dress that reached her knees. She also wore a black hat and had minimalistic make-up on her face. Next to her was a boy, around 5 years old, who wore a suit and had neatly combed hair. The woman had a slight smile on her face while the child seemed like it was trying to avert Red's gaze by looking at its shoes.

"You are Mr. Red, are you not?" she asked while analyzing his face.

"Yes. I am. And I guess you were passengers on St. Anne during that cruise. And there's no need for a "Mr.". Just "Red" is fine."

"Alright then. You guessed correctly. Me and my son came here to give you our thanks." she said before bowing way too low.

Red felt embarrassment whenever somebody did that since during that cruise, in all his fighting, he cared more about winning than about the safety of the passengers. That made him feel like he wasn't worthy of all the recognition he received. Despite that, he felt like something was off when the boy didn't join his mother in bowing but when the woman also realized that, she took his head in her hand and made him lower it by applying a small amount of force. When they were done and Red could see her face again, she looked somehow sadder than before.

"I'm terribly sorry that we didn't bring you any gifts." she said.

"Oh no. You're gratitude is more than enough." the teenager held up his hands in a way that signified that he wanted her to be calm.

The woman took her child's hand and started turning around "We... We will be going then."

After they left, Red closed the door and returned to Michael.

"Where were then?"

"Oh. I should also probably get going. The ship is still being repaired but I want to see how it's doing." the sailor explained.

"Alright then. But this means we probably won't see each other until the Pokemon League."

"You don't know that. Fate works in mysterious ways."

As he was leaving the room, the man gave his friend a last big smile. He slowly began making his way towards the elevator when he heard a weird, quiet sound in the mostly empty corridor. He saw the woman, sitting on a bench, next to her son whose face was covered with tears. She was too absorbed with trying to calm the boy down to notice Michael passing them, but the sailor couldn't help overhearing a part of their conversation.

"You can't be angry at him. He saved mommy and you."

"But... but daddy... his head... you said... he's gone..."

As he reached the elevator, Michael's mind immediately pieced what was going on by connecting what he heard with how the woman and her son looked and acted like. He didn't want to turn around since they could be able to see him if he passed them again, so all he could hope for was that they would leave before Red would step out of his room. Even if he considered him to be on the same level as him when it came to Pokemon, the man felt like there were some things he wouldn't be able to deal with as well as he would, and since in that moment he felt like the most useless piece of trash, he knew that Red would feel a thousand times worse.

. . .

"Bounce!" Red shouted as he held onto Magikarp while both of them were falling towards the ground at high speed.

The Pokemon used its move which caused them to be reflected of the street, scaring a couple car drivers in the process, and allowed them to get back on one of the roofs. Red let go of Magikarp when they were still in the air so both of them could land safely by themselves. The teenager felt a shock run from his feet up to his neck when he hit the concrete but it was only momentary. The reason for him travelling in such a dangerous way was to avoid all the fans he apparently gained after saving St. Anne. A group of them stopped him when he was on his way to the Gym for no other reason than that they wanted to have a photo with someone who has been featured on TV in some capacity.

Suspecting that he would have to deal with a lot more of that, he took to the roofs but he didn't prepare by mapping out his route which was the reason for him almost becoming a pancake when he tried to jump a gap which proved too wide. He stopped for a while to make sure that his new clothes were okay with his antics. He switched his denim pants for black, insulated ones which were significantly less loose. He also started wearing a hoodie with the design based on his vest. He also bought gloves and a scarf but left them in his bag for the time being, since it wasn't cold enough that he would need them.

After traversing a couple more roofs, Red finally reached the edge of the town and got down to the ground. It seemed like the road leading to the Gym didn't have any other purpose so there weren't that many people on it. On his way, the teenager noticed another trainer who was complaining about the fact that Lt. Surge told him that he was too busy and he should come back the next day. Knowing that it was partly his fault, Red felt a little guilty.

"I've arrived!" Red announced loudly while pushing open the doors, a thing he couldn't do previously since the other Gyms he visited had automatic doors.

Unfortunately, his words weren't heard by anybody since the lobby was just an empty room. Curiously, the walls were covered in metal, even when he went through the corridor and reached the main room. The only things not made of it were the arena and the platforms for the trainers. Lt. Surge was sitting cross-legged, with his eyes closed, on the opposite end of the room. Behind him was a corridor similar to the one the boy walked through but on both sides of it were concrete pedestal with small wooden boxes placed on top of them. The leader immediately noticed Red's arrival and opened his eyes.

"Welcome to the true man's world." he said before smiling from ear to ear.

After standing up, it seemed like he was ready to begin the battle without need for any further explanations since he grabbed one of the pokeballs from his belt. Red got on his platform but before they would fight, he had a couple questions.

"It's good to see you again. So, what are the rules?"

"We each use 3 Pokemon. No switching allowed. If you beat all of my Pokemon, the Thunder badge will be yours."

"Alright. And what's with those boxes behind you?"

"One of them contains the badges. I have to give them out so rarely that I was worried about losing them so I placed them here." he said while pointing to the box on the left, after which he switched his finger to the right one "The other has a secret, additional prize for those who want it. But you'll never know what it is if you don't defeat me. But enough of this chit-chatting. My first Pokemon is Magneton!"

The levitating hunk of metal appeared from inside its pokeball and acted like if it was dizzy, with all of its eyes moving rapidly in different directions.

"Three eyes..." Red said while considering who he was going to choose "Okay. I've got it. Go, Charmander!"

"Haha! You think you'll win just because you chose a fire type against a steel type?! You're making a grave mistake!"

"That's not the reason why I chose him! Charmander, use Smokescreen!"

The lizard opened its mouth and covered the arena with black clouds, obscuring his opponent's vision.

"Now, attack him with Flamethrower!"

Charmander shot out a stream of fire which pierced the smoke and, although they couldn't see it yet, caused the leader to step to the side since it almost hit him. He was thankful that it didn't reach any of the boxes and dispersed mid-air. The same happened to the cloud, but when it was gone, Magneton was nowhere to be seen. Charmander started looking around in panic but before he could find his foe, he was hit by a Flash Cannon which sent him flying into a wall. When Red looked in the direction from where the attack came from, he saw that Magneton was using two of its magnets to attract itself to the opposite wall, although he was pretty high on it.

"So that's what it did." Red immediately went back to his strategy and started rethinking it.

Meanwhile, Charmander got up and was ready for further battle.

"This is the first time that Smokescreen worked against us. But even taking that aside... This room... Charmander, use Flamethrower again!"

The lizard shot out its attack in Magneton's direction but the electric Pokemon immediately reacted by letting go of the wall and using another set of magnets to attract itself to the floor below it.

"Don't let up!" Red commanded.

Charmander continued on spewing fire but Magneton constantly managed to escape by changing the magnets it was using and attracting itself to different surfaces in the metal room. The places hit by Flamethrower seemed mostly resistant to fire since they only turned red for a short while before returning to their normal color.

"Okay! You can stop for now!"

"Hmm? Did he come up with some other plan?" the leader muttered while still looking rather confident.

"Use Flame Charge!"

Charmander covered its body in fire. Ever since Red was well enough to leave his hospital room, he would train with the lizard so that he could do it almost instantly. After that, the Pokemon ran at its opponent who was hanging pretty low on the opposite wall. Magneton pulled himself up and across the wall but Charmander's speed, augmented by the move, allowed him to run vertically.

Seeing that, Lt. Surge calmly but surely ordered "Sonic Boom!"

The levitating Pokemon shot out condensed sound waves in the form of a boomerang which passed Charmander and returned to hit in the back of the head, causing it to drop to the floor.

"Charmander, don't stop! Continue using Flame Charge!"

The fire Pokemon took a couple step backwards, so it could have a run up, before it used the attack again, making Magneton escape to the opposite wall. With its speed increased even further, Charmander was hot on its opponent's trail.

"Go up! And use more Sonic Booms!" Lt. Surge ordered.

Magneton moved to the ceiling and shot out three of the boomerang-like attacks. Charmander avoided the first two but the last knocked him of the wall. When he got up, he looked at his trainer whose face was clearly telling him that he was to continue with this tactic. He set himself on fire once again and while reaching insanely high speeds, he managed to traverse the whole height of the wall and, without even realizing it, tried to run on the ceiling while being upside down, until the moment when a surprising new order arrived.

"Flamethrower!"

As much as it shocked Charmander, he executed it. Magneton was even more surprised and without having time to react, it decided to drop straight down. Looking at that, the leader quickly realized what was going on.

"Magnet Bomb! Use several!"

Magneton started shooting multiple metal balls as it was falling towards the arena, but Charmander's flaming body melted them before they could be caused to explode. When he jumped down from the ceiling, it quickly reached the opponent and smashed it into the floor with a headbutt.

"Scratch!" ordered Red.

Charmander got a good grip with one of its hands while trying to use the other to damage the foe, but to everyone's surprise, his claws turned to metal, causing them to do significantly less damage than they would normally have against a steel opponent.

Lt. Surge took that moment of shock as his chance "Zap Cannon!"

Magneton produced a powerful ball of electricity between two magnets, but Charmander, afraid of being hit, accidentally pushed aside of his foe's limbs, causing the attack to go out of control and fly into a wall.

"If Scratch doesn't work... let's overwhelm it with Flamethrower!" Red shouted.

Charmander did exactly that. Although Magneton managed to begin levitating, it still couldn't shake of the lizard while being constantly under pain from its attacks. Finally, it dropped back to the floor and Charmander stood atop it while roaring triumphally. That is, until the leader called Magneton back into its pokeball.

"I knew you were an amazing trainer already but you still manage to surpass my expectations. And your Charmander..." Surge said while feeling shivers of excitement run through his body while looking at the hot-blooded faces of his opponents "...Well, you better watch out. The next one is even tougher! Go, Electrode!"

* * *

Sorry that this chapter doesn't contain the whole Gym battle but when I saw how long it was with only one of the six Pokemon defeated, I decided that it would be better to split it into two. I'd rather upload chapters which are shorter and do it fairly regularly than not upload something for like a month and then dump a massive thing. Besides, just like all Gym battle chapters so far, the next one will also have some additional staff so I have no idea how long it would become.

There's not much to be said about the battle itself. I hope it came out cool so far. All these battles are kinda about Red finding ways to defeat the tactics which the leader's probably use for all of their battles so I'm a little afraid that it makes it seem like the leaders can't adapt or have more than one plan. But then again, if whenever Red came up with a counterattack, the opponent came up with one of their own, it would be like an infinite game of them trying to outdo each other. That's why the leaders stick to what they know and try to win with it. Surge's phrase which is also used for the title comes from character Ringo Roadagain from Steel Ball Run. And the guy isn't like a sexist or anything. I just wanted him to be like the typical burly characters from 80's manga and anime.

Then there's the topic of death. Seeing how messed up Red got during the Special Chapter, it wouldn't seem out of ordinary that somebody died after falling over during all the shaking and cracked their head. There were probably more people, they just were too busy with grieving. There was also 2 other important things about that scene. They concerned the woman and Michael. If you noticed, then congratulations. If not, don't worry. It was pretty vague.

EDIT: Totally unrelated, but I wanted to say that I love the new opening for Sun and Moon anime.

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmander, Pikachu, Oddish, Magikarp.

Badges: 2

Green. Team: Ivysaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Bellsprout(Bell), Wartortle(Tori), Zubat(?), ?.

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: ?, ?.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.


	17. 16: A Certain Bioelectric Railgun

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 16: A Certain Bioelectric Railgun.

"Go, Electrode!" when Lt. Surge threw the pokeball with his second Pokemon, what appeared from inside looked eerily similar to the item it was stored in.

Having not met it previously, Red checked in the Pokedex whether this one was also a steel type, since it kind of looked like it would be, but he learned that it was purely electric. This would make the battle a little harder than the previous one since none of the fighters would have a natural advantage. Since the leader seemed to have no problem with the teenager checking up information, the boy also took the chance to learn what happened to Charmander's Scratch and learned that it must have been replaced by Metal Claw. Although it was an overall stronger version of the previous move, it could be less useful in certain situations. But there was nothing the trainer could do about that.

"Are you done?" Lt. Surge seemed to be getting a little impatient.

Even Charmander stood there, looking at his trainer, waiting for the battle to continue. It seemed like his battle spirit calmed down a little.

"Yeah, yeah. Sorry. You can have the first move." the trainer replied while hiding the Pokedex in his pocket.

"Don't mind if I take you up on that. Electrode, use Sonic Boom!"

"Again?! Will you stop it with that?!"

Charmander didn't need an order to be able to easily dodge the Sonic Boom but even though it took only a fraction of a second, when he glanced towards the opponent, he saw that it was already on the move towards it.

"Another two! Corner him!"

Electrode shot out a pair of boomerangs which circled Charmander before flying to hit him from left and right. He made a quick decision to avoid them by jumping forward, which turned out to be a mistake on his part.

"Rollout!"

Electrode was already close enough that when it began spinning its whole body, Charmander didn't have a chance to do anything other than try to put his arms up to try and block the attack. It proved virtually useless. He was hit with great force and sent past its trainer and into the corridor behind. The lizard got up, only to realize that Electrode didn't stop its attack and was still rolling towards him. Dodging it would be even harder since the corridor was tight enough that the ball Pokemon would block any path of escape.

Even though Red's vision was obscured by the leader's Pokemon he gave the only order he thought could be useful in that situation "Flamethrower!"

Electrode was pushed back out to the main room but immediately began rolling back in Charmander's direction.

"Go up!" ordered Red.

The lizard shot out his flames downwards which allowed him to propel himself into air and out of Electrode's path. His foe flew into the lobby and the fire Pokemon looked back while flying out of the corridor. Red realized the reason for why the lobby was empty and the doors weren't automatic when he saw glimpses of the electric Pokemon bouncing of the walls multiple times before it finally ricocheted itself towards the main room, hitting the falling Charmander on its way. When the lizard was knocked backwards and the ball Pokemon was turning around to attack again, Red gave another command "Flame Charge!"

Charmander set himself on fire but didn't have time to start his run since Electrode was already dangerously close.

"Dodge!" shouted the leader, and his Pokemon acted accordingly.

Red thought to himself that it would be a good idea to have Charmander keep himself in that state since that meant that the opponent wouldn't be able to hit him with a Rollout without hurting itself in the process, while both of them were getting used to dealing with Sonic Booms.

The leader must have also reached a similar conclusion since he decided to switch his tactic "Screech!"

Electrode stopped in place and began vibrating its body slightly, producing a sound which, while not physically damaging, caused Charmander to lose focus as he tried to keep it from going into his ears since even a second of it caused an unpleasant feeling to run through his body. His foe took that chance immediately and used another Rollout to send the lizard into a wall. Charmander managed to regain his composure and used Flame Charge to run up, in a similar way to when he fought Magneton.

Unfortunately, while Red and his Pokemon were both expecting another Sonic Boom or a bunch of them, Lt. Surge had a different plan "It's time to kick it up a Spark!"

Red didn't have time to tell whether that phrase made sense as he was too busy looking as Charmander was struck down by a jolt of electricity which passed through the metal walls, at an amazing speed, when Electrode touched one of them. As it fell towards the floor, it had no way to get out of harms way when another duo of Sonic Booms hit him from two sides.

Meanwhile, Electrode got in place below his opponent and began using Rollout without moving around as if it was a car that was being revved up before a race. When Charmander fell down, the spinning body of the electric Pokemon immediately sent him flying towards Red who took out the lizard's pokeball at the last second and called it back inside. The ball stopped and looked at the boy with a big grin on its face. It did a couple rolls from side to side as if it was trying to mock him.

The teenager looked a little disappointed but it wasn't because his Pokemon lost, but because of his decisions which caused that loss to happen "You did a great job, buddy."

He attached the pokeball to his belt and immediately reached for another one.

"Are you sure?" the leader looked slightly surprised that Red made up his mind so quickly.

"Yes. Ever since I met you on St. Anne and saw that you were an electric type trainer, I started coming up with what would be a good team to use in this battle. I didn't reach a clear decision but I knew this guy would be useful. Don't think that I'm playing around. I'm going all out."

"I see. Then show me the one you put so much faith in!"

"Go, Oddish!" Red yelled as he threw the ball.

The grass Pokemon appeared from the beam of light and, not surprising his trainer, was asleep as his body materialized on the arena. Meanwhile, the leader and his partner looked a little confused, but the former soldier decided to stay careful, in case if that was part of some secret plan prepared by his opponent.

"Oddiiiiish! It's time to wake up!" the teenager shouted.

The Pokemon was awake since he slowly looked to each side before he closed his eyes. He seemed to ignore his trainer which made Lt. Surge a little sad for the boy, since he imagined how embarrassing it would be if his Pokemon disobeyed him in such a way.

Red seemed like he was ready to give up in trying to get the Pokemon to move, when suddenly he arched himself back before giving a deafening shout "Didn't you hear me?! Rise and shine!"

Lt. Surge made the mistake of covering his eyes and closing his eyes for slightly longer than a blink. When they were open again, Oddish was not only completely woken up, but also spinning through the air upside down as it chanted his name. The leader let go of his ears and looked at the scene in confusion.

Suddenly, even though there were no windows, a ray of sunlight crossed the man's face. He blocked it with his hand and, during that time, Oddish managed to land back on the floor. The leader slowly came to understand that this was indeed a tactic which Red had planned. Oddish being asleep lured him and Electrode into a sense of false security while the teenager's command was formed in such a way that his Pokemon would understand to use Sunny Day without actually being told to use that move.

"I can't let him control the pace any longer..." he whispered to himself "...Electrode, use Rollout!"

The electric Pokemon smiled as it started spinning before it shot out like a flicked marble. Although it was moving fast, it came to a sudden stop since during one of the rotations, its target seemed to disappear before its eyes. Electrode turned around and saw Oddish happily jumping far behind it, on Lt. Surge's side of the room. Although it couldn't tell how it happened, it planned on continuing its attack and began rolling again, this time trying to up its speed.

As it was about to reach him, the grass Pokemon seemed to disappear again. But while Electrode couldn't rely on its eyesight to find the opponent, it still had its other senses, and at that moment its smell and hearing told it Oddish's location. It had to make a sharp turn since the opponent was still fairly close but it was sure that this time he wouldn't be able to run away.

"No! Sto...!" the leader couldn't finish since his Pokemon already crashed into him with immense force.

The man tried to stop it by planting himself firmly but when he was pushed onto the metal, it was easier for him to slip up. He fell down and the Electrode's acceleration allowed the Pokemon to fly above its trainer and bounce of the wall right above the box with the badges. When it landed, it realized its mistake and approached the leader with a worried expression. The man was slightly bruised on his elbows but other than that and the front of his torso hurting a little, he seemed to be fine, especially since he jumped right back on his feet. He gave Red a look that seemed both angry and satisfied at the same time. Oddish stood in the middle of the arena, looking like it was trying to provoke their opponents with its happy, nonchalant attitude.

"You had Oddish spray me with something which would attract Electrode's attention." the leader said while grabbing his shirt to sniff it "That's certainly a new one. But you should have used that moment to attack. I'm not somebody who falls twice for the same trick."

"Well, that was only our first tactic. I still have a couple other ones up my sleeve. Like for example now."

"What are you...?"

"I mean that while you're focused on what I'm talking about, Oddish is performing the move I told him to use while you were busy with being knocked down." Red explained with a cocky smirk.

Lt. Surge looked at the grass Pokemon who seemed to be just standing in place with a slight smile on his face. As he focused his gaze, he noticed a faint greenish glow surrounding the weeds body.

"No!" he yelled when he realized what was going on and turned his attention to his own Pokemon "Electrode! Roll backwards!"

The ball Pokemon didn't understand what was going but listened and when it did, it saw that the place in which it sat had two small vines sticking from beneath. As soon as their opponents saw through their plan, Oddish quickly retracted the ropes through the ground and back into his body. He could use them in the first place because he sent them into the earthy floor along his back and legs. That allowed it to suck out Electrode's energy by means of Mega Drain, without drawing attention to himself. Only after separating itself from the vines' touch, Electrode realized how much of its powers were drained. It panted a little but gave its trainer a look that meant it was ready to still go on.

"Alright! Let's go! Electrode, Spark and then Rollout!" the leader ordered, hoping that the first attack would keep the opponent too occupied to get a chance to dodge the second.

Although the artificial sun created by Sunny Day was useful in increasing Oddish's speed, thanks to his ability, Chlorophyll, Red decided that it would work to their advantage to not avoid the next attack "Stand your ground! Literally!"

Oddish managed to withstand the Spark without much trouble. In a short while, Electrode approached it with great speed and it seemed like the grass Pokemon would be knocked backwards. While he still moved in that direction, he did so slowly, while enduring the spinning body of its foe pushing him. It all happened faster than it seemed and before Lt. Surge could give an order, Electrode stopped by itself to see why its attack wasn't working, only to realize that Oddish stopped himself from being knocked away by planting his vines in the ground.

At the moment the electric Pokemon stopped moving, the tendrils were already stretched far enough that when Oddish jumped, he served like a catapult for Electrode who was sent flying through the room at a great speed. It couldn't maneuver itself and crashed into the wall with such force that it made a big indentation. Instead of worrying about whether this bout was over, Red focused on the walls and started coming up with another tactic.

"Electrode, return!" the leader shouted after seeing that his Pokemon couldn't go on anymore.

"You did great, Oddish." Red praised his Pokemon who jumped over to the boy to give him a high five with one of his leaves.

"Don't get too comfortable. I've been giving it my best from the beginning but I still used Pokemon in order of power. That means that this one is stronger than the previous two." the leader said while confidently presenting a pokeball.

Red looked at him with a blank face, caused by his confusion about what the man was trying to prove "I mean... it's just Raichu, isn't it?"

"What?"

"I saw you using it on St. Anne. I assumed it was your strongest Pokemon since it was the one you decided to use against the giant Tentacruel. Was... Was that meant to be a surprise?"

"I... You... You're kinda taking the fun out of this."

"No, no. I'm excited. I want to fight your Raichu."

"Are you serious?"

"Yeah, yeah. Ever since I saw it, I was like "Woah, I better watch out for that Raichu". Honest." although Red purposefully exaggerated his words, there was some truth behind them, since he made special preparations in order to fight the electric mouse.

"Okay. Then here it goes! Raichu!" Lt. Surge finally released the Pokemon from its ball.

As it appeared mid-air, it shot out small jolts of electricity from its cheek before landing with one of its legs pointed towards the opponents, and a face that showed it was ready to begin the fight.

"Alright, Oddish..." Red began as he kneeled so that his Pokemon could hear his quietened voice "...I have an idea on what to do. I don't know if it'll work out, but the important part is that you're not the one needed for that plan. If we can do this, I'm fine if you are the one to beat Raichu but the most important part is that."

Red pointed towards the artificial sun hanging close to the ceiling.

"If this disappears and you feel like you're close to fainting, you have to put up a new one. Other than that, let's just do our best. Okay?"

The Pokemon nodded while trying to put on a serious face, yet still looking as cute as always. He stepped forward and his trainer stood up and looked the leader in the eyes.

"Are you done?" the man asked.

"Yeah. Pretty much."

"Then you're done."

"Wha-?"

"Volt Tackle!"

Even though Red understood what was happening, Raichu moved too fast for the boy to utter any command of his own. Even though electric moves weren't especially effective against Oddish, since the grass Pokemon couldn't prepare himself, he was hit pretty hard and flew backwards a couple meters, hitting the wall next to the corridor.

The young trainer didn't have time to think but he predicted that the opponent wouldn't let up attacking, so he quickly ordered a countermeasure "Mega Drain!"

He was proved accurate when Raichu swiftly approached Oddish with another Volt Tackle, until the moment when it saw the vines shot out in its direction and slowed down a little out of hesitation.

"Fall back!" shouted Lt. Surge.

The mouse did as ordered by jumping a performing a couple of backwards flips, until the moment it thought it was out of reach. In truth, Oddish could probably reach it even at that distance, but the grass Pokemon felt it was more important to get itself back on feet since staying static against such an opponent seemed unwise.

"If it's that fast, we'll just have to keep it on its toes. Megadrain!"

Oddish advanced past his trainer and sprouted two new vines which approached Raichu from sides.

"Agility!" ordered the leader.

His Pokemon took a second to focus. During that time, its body seemed to be surrounded by a wall of wind. When it disappeared, so did the Pokemon. Oddish stopped his vines in confusion and started looking around in panic, when suddenly, Raichu appeared right in front of him, ready to strike. To Surge's surprise, his Pokemon immediately backed out and watched how Oddish retracted the vines.

"What's going on? Why didn't you hit him?" the leader wondered.

Raichu pointed towards a cloud of dust emitting from Oddish's leaves, which after missing its target, fell towards the floor and disappeared.

"A powder of some sort. Stun Spore... Or maybe Sleep Powder..."

Oddish glanced towards his trainer, while the opponents were busy with their own things, and noticed that the boy was holding up one of his hands and slapping the back of it lightly.

"Don't worry, Raichu. I've got an idea." the leader reassured his Pokemon who nodded in response "Use Thunder!"

The electric Pokemon started gathering energy in its cheeks. After there was enough of it, the mouse directed a powerful blasts upwards. It didn't reach the ceiling, instead changing direction and moving towards Oddish at great speeds.

"Mega Drain!" yelled Red.

Lt. Surge understood that as the boy hoping that the vines would reach Raichu before the electricity would hit Oddish, so he gave another order of his own "Volt Tackle!"

Raichu didn't look if the vines were actually coming towards him and started running while covering himself in electricity. It knew not to approach the opponent head-on, and instead tried to get behind it from the right side. The leader looked a little confused when he realized that Oddish didn't seem to listen to Red's order.

Thunder was about to hit when Red gave a new command "Jump back!"

Oddish managed to avoid it, but Raichu was already behind him and approaching at such speed that it would be impossible to dodge it without falling into the attack in the front. But what neither Raichu nor its trainer expected was that Red was two steps ahead and Oddish's vines were actually used to cover its back, making Raichu change direction at the last moment to avoid getting its energy drained. The turn was so harsh that the mouse tripped, giving Oddish a chance to extend its vines and grab the foe's body. Thunder made a huge impact and kicked up a cloud of dust which shielded the Pokemon from their partners' view. When it finally settled down, they could see Raichu struggling against the vines and trying to get free by biting into them.

"Raichu, stop playing around! Grab hold of them and use Slam!"

The mouse listened and although with a little trouble, it got to a standing position in which it used all its strength to swing the vines above itself, sending Oddish into a wall. After hitting it, the grass Pokemon's grip loosened and Raichu could escape and move to a safe distance to catch some breath. Lt. Surge looked like he was about to give another order, but his attention, as well as everybody else, was caught by the fact that the room seemed to be getting darker. The artificial sun created by Oddish started disappearing and soon the only light left was that created by the couple lamps hanging from the ceiling. Red gave his Pokemon, who was getting up, a hesitant look but it seemed like it was ready to still go on. What it didn't take into account was that with the sun gone, its speed was also lessened as proved right away by Raichu.

"Volt Tackle!"

The mouse crashed into the grass Pokemon, knocking him upwards. He tried to regain balance while mid-air, but Lt. Surge didn't want to give him any rest.

"Jump off the wall and Slam!"

Raichu did as ordered and quickly got itself above Oddish where it spun around and, this time, used its tail to send him towards the floor. It landed right next to him and picked up the helpless foe by its leaves to throw it towards his trainer.

"Finish him with a Thunder!" the leader yelled while bringing his arm up in a swinging motion.

"Oddish, this is it!" shouted Red.

The Pokemon was hurting too bad to get up but thankfully, it wasn't needed for him to use Sunny Day. Energy from its body flew through the air and started forming the shining sphere. At that moment, Raichu already had enough electricity gathered to use its move. Red was prepared to return his partner to his pokeball, but something caught his attention. It seemed like Oddish was prepared to do as much damage to his opponent, no matter how much he himself would receive. Raichu also noticed it, although a little too late.

It jumped back since it turned out that even though Oddish was busy with creating the sun and was about to be struck down by Thunder, he was using the same underground vine trick he did on Electrode. If he could make the fight even a little easier for the next Pokemon, he considered it worth a try. The sun was formed. The thunder struck. After a couple seconds, an unconscious Oddish could be seen through the cloud of dust.

Red returned the grass Pokemon to its pokeball and gave him his deep thanks before putting it away and calmly reaching for the next one. Lt. Surge looked a little worried. He would feel better if the teenager had a smug expression but the slight smile seemed so calm that the leader was actually getting annoyed. He would feel like a fool if the battle they just had was a set-up for another one of Red's plans.

"So, what is your last Pokemon?"

"Here he comes. Go, Pikachu!"

The electric mouse appeared from his pokeball without doing anything special. If anything, he looked a little bored by the fact that he was called out for a battle. He scratched himself behind an ear while staring down Raichu, who was getting slightly irritated at its opponent's attitude.

"Hey, Pikachu. Is everything okay?"

The mouse looked at its trainer and lifted his arms up, showing that it had enough of dealing with opponents who weren't a challenge to him, especially since Red focused on training him during his stay at the hospital.

"This one isn't the same. Besides, if you win, you'll get double the food for dinner."

Pikachu seemed to be in deep though over what the boy said and, after some time, showed him his hand with three fingers lifted up.

"Okay, okay. Just don't slip up on your confidence, ya jerk."

Hearing that the trainer agreed, Pikachu turned towards the opponent with an evil looking smile.

"Raichu, we have to be fast so that they can't do whatever they're planning, got it?" said the leader.

His Pokemon nodded and assumed a four-limbed, fighting stance.

"Volt Tackle!"

"Iron Tail!"

In another instance of its speed proving too great, Raichu couldn't stop himself in time, not to crash head first into Pikachu's tail which has turned to metal. The smaller Pokemon swatted his opponent to the side, but it spun one of its hands and to regain balance and place itself safely on the ground.

But Red didn't seem to plan on giving it a break "Quick Attack!"

"Spin around and grab him!"

Raichu did as ordered. It got Pikachu into a hold which was hard to escape from, but at that kind of range there was only one thing he could do.

"Slam it into the wall!"

Red understood that Pikachu couldn't avoid hitting the wall, but he didn't plan on having it take any damage "Rebound with Iron Tail!"

Pikachu turned around while flying through the air and hit the wall with his tail, leaving an indentation that was around half the length of its tail. After that, he gracefully landed on the floor.

"Yes... Something like this..." Red whispered to himself "Alright! Another Quick Attack!"

Red gave a command after a command. Each of them forced Lt. Surge and Raichu to keep a defensive stance and use Slam to avoid taking damage. The leader started looking around in order to decipher just what it was the challenger hoped to do, but the only thing he noticed was that Pikachu's Iron Tail kept damaging the metal walls, floor and ceiling whenever he was thrown into them.

"I don't know what's going on but I won't let him do what he wants. Raichu, use Agility!" the leader ordered, risking that his Pokemon would be hit by the next Quick Attack.

Raichu managed to increase its speed and perform a side step, which allowed it to grab Pikachu when he approached it.

"Throw him up, but not too hard!" commanded Lt. Surge and his Pokemon did so "Now, he has no surface to bounce off! Use Thunder!"

Raichu gathered the necessary energy and shot out a powerful attack but, to his trainer's shock, it seemed to miraculously avoid the opponent.

"That's not possible! Even if it's an electric type, it should still receive some damage!" he shouted while clenching his fists.

"You'd think so, right?" Red looked rather smug when saying that "I told you before that I made preparations for this fight. The sun created by Oddish is still here and that means that Thunder has about 50% chance of missing its target. Thanks to that, we effectively sealed your Raichu's strongest move."

"We still have other things we can use! Raichu, Volt Tackle!"

"Pikachu, Quick Attack!"

Even though Raichu's speed was higher, it wasn't important if both Pokemon's goal was to crash into each other. The impact caused them both to be thrown in opposite directions.

"There's still one thing I have to check... Pikachu, use Thunderbolt!"

The Pokemon shot out the attack but even though it reached its target, Raichu was completely unaffected by it and looked at its foe with confidence.

"Hahaha! You thought yourself so smart but as it turns out I'm also not entirely focused on brawn! I trained hard so that Raichu could attain a special ability called Lightning Rod! It makes it so that it attracts all electric attacks and negates them completely! It seems like your strongest move is also useless!"

"Alright. Our preparations are done." the boy looked rather content with himself.

"Wha-?"

"Pikachu, approach that indentation over there!" Red said while pointing to one of the damaged parts, particularly one which was rather low on a wall.

The Pokemon ran over to it without hesitation.

"Now, change your tail to iron."

Pikachu did as ordered. Everything was happening fairly quick and Lt. Surge still couldn't comprehend if the boy really had a plan and how these holes factored into it, but he didn't want to risk losing because of his curiosity.

"Oh no, you don't! Raichu, Volt Tackle!"

"Use Thunderbolt on your tail!" Red shouted, sweating a little from his forehead, since he started considering the risk of this tactic.

Pikachu himself didn't know what his trainer planned for so he was shocked when suddenly he was shot through the room with his tail leading him forward. He closed his eyes when he saw how close he was getting to another wall but when he didn't feel his body hitting it, he opened them back again to see that his tail slid along another indentation and sent him further, increasing his speed at the same time. His body was being flung around at such velocity that he had a little trouble keeping up. Meanwhile, the trainers and Raichu observed the situation. Red backed off to the corridor so that he wouldn't accidentally be hit by his own Pokemon who couldn't exactly control his path. Lt. Surge was almost grazed by Pikachu at one time and also took a couple steps back to the other corridor.

"This was your plan?!" he couldn't believe.

"Yeah! Pretty much!" Red had to yell since Pikachu sliding along the indentations with his electricity made a rather loud noise.

"And what the hell is this?!"

"It's...!" Red couldn't be heard anymore because of the increase in volume of the sounds.

Raichu looked at his trainer who looked at loss on what to do and decided to try moving around so that he could intercept Pikachu and stopped whatever game it was playing at. Although Lt. Surge's words couldn't get through, he tried to convey with his hands that he wanted Raichu to use its reflexes to grab Pikachu and use Slam on it.

Meanwhile, Red took a deep breath before shouting at the top of his lungs "Stop the Thunderbooolt!"

Pikachu heard him and stopped producing electricity while still retaining the Iron Tail. Red didn't wait to see if the Pokemon actually listened since at that speed it would be hard to tell what was going on.

Instead, the boy immediately followed with "Thunderbolt agaaain!"

The Pokemon used Thunderbolt while flying through the air, still propelled by the previous one, away from any of the indentations. This made is so instead of being shot through another hole, Pikachu's tail was attracted by Raichu's ability. Although the leader's Pokemon could see the incoming attack, he was too slow and was instantly hit in the belly while trying to grab the tail.

Even if Thunderbolt was useless, the power of the accelerated Iron Tail was so great that it pushed Raichu along the floor, past his trainer and the whole length of the corridor and through the doors at the end of it. Even that wasn't enough to stop Pikachu who had to try to rotate himself and slam the tail into the ground of the arena so that he wouldn't crush into the wall on the leader's side. His flight stopped only after he crashed into one of the boxes next to the corridor but the leader was too worried about his own Pokemon to notice that. He ran to the back room with a worried face.

"That was something..." Red said while massaging his sore throat and wiping the sweat off his forehead "Hey Pikachu, how are you... Pikachu?"

The leader returned after some time, looking at the ball to which he returned his Pokemon, visibly disappointed by his loss. He looked up after putting it away and noticed that the challenger wasn't at the opposite end of the arena. He looked around and quickly found the boy crouched next to the pedestal with the broken box.

"Damn it. It broke? I wanted this to be a surprise... Well... I never had a fight that would go so much out of control. I'll have to ask Rockskey to arrange a crew to fix the..." the leader stopped since he noticed the boy wasn't listening "Hello? Is something wrong?"

"Mr. Surge..."

"That's "Lt. Surge" for y..."

"Can you explain what's this?!" Red yelled while turning around and holding up, in his hands, a Raichu.

"Oh. So that's what happened! Your Pikachu crashed into the box with Thunder Stones and evolved into a Raichu. Normally, I offer a Thunder Stone along the Thunder badge as a prize for beating me. But there's nothing to worry about. You won so I would give the stone to you anyway."

"But I didn't want it!" Red exploded.

"Wha-? You didn't?! Are you crazy?!"

"I mean..." Red looked at the Pokemon "...I thought about evolving Pikachu sometime in the future but I still wanted to train him as a Pikachu. Now he won't be able to learn moves like Slam, Agility or Volt Tackle."

"Oh... I... But... You still managed to beat us, even though we had these moves at our disposal. That goes to show that it doesn't matter how strong your moves are, as long as you know how to use them effectively."

"I guess..." Red still looked a little sad but Raichu tried to cheer him up with a smile of his own and the boy slowly got over the whole thing "...Thanks for all your work... Raichu. Look forward to that triple portion of food."

After he returned the Pokemon to its ball, the boy stood up. The leader looked at him with a satisfied expression and realized that he was forgetting his duties. He turned around and went over to the other box and opened it with a key he took out from his pocket. After that, he handed the boy his other reward, the Thunder badge.

"Good job, soldier." the man said while saluting the boy.

"I'm... I'm not a soldier. Did you hit your head?"

"No... I... Ugh... Doesn't matter. I'll have to fix this place up or the challengers will start piling up and I'll get myself into trouble with the league officials."

After hiding the badge, Red looked up at the leader since his words reminded him of an important matter "Could I ask you something?"

"It depends. If it's about my time in the army, you have to understand that there's a lot of classified information and..."

"No, no. It's about something more recent." Red hesitated, since his thoughts wandered to the things he went through during his battle with Darkness Gang, but he slapped himself on both cheeks to regain his confidence "I wanted to ask you about Team Rocket."

"Team Rocket? Why would you ask "me" about "them"?" Lt. Surge put emphasis on these words since he wanted to test the waters after the boy's request caught him off guard.

"I don't know if he actually did it but Brock said that he was gonna contact the other Gym leaders about what he and I learned about Team Rocket." the teenager explained.

"Wait a minute. How the hell are you involved in this thing? Do you just stick your nose into every kind of trouble you can find?"

"It's more like me stumbling into trouble." Red sighed with a smile, but then his expression changed to a more serious one "The reason I was hired to be part of St. Anne's security was to protect the Crystal Eye from Phantom Venin. But I just couldn't sit by idly while Darkness Gang attacked, even though it wasn't technically my job. But I don't want anybody to get hurt because I didn't help when I could have. Even if this Team Rocket stuff doesn't really concern me, I already encountered them 3 times, and if I meet them again, I will stand up to them just as I have done previously. I don't plan on going after their boss like some great hero but if there's some information about them that could help me in another, eventual encounter, I want to know it."

"That's fine... But what do you mean by saying that you encounte..."

"I'm the one who brought the thing to Brock's attention after meeting a Team Rocket member in Viridian City and helped him realize that the Gym over there was used as a place to scout out new members. But I assumed it was a dead end, since their boss left that place long ago."

Lt. Surge turned to the side and held up a hand to his face while thinking about what to say. He glanced at the boy and after seeing the burning will of his eyes, decided to reveal what he knew.

"Brock did call us. In fact, he made it a group call using video chat. He explained the situation while omitting the stuff that involved you. You shouldn't fault him. He just wants to do good, like you, and he's probably worried about you getting involved. Anyway, out of the 7 leaders, there was one that didn't respond. It was Blaine. I noted that it was suspicious since he was one of the two people among us who knew the 8th leader personally."

"But the other person was there, yes?"

"Yes... But Koga may be even more suspicious than Blaine. I never looked into who the 8th guy was since it wasn't important to me, but after I learned that he's supposedly the boss of Team Rocket, I asked Koga to immediately tell us what he knew."

"And?"

"Weeell... We at least know his name. It's "Giovanni"."

"Giovanni." Red repeated the name as if it was supposed to remind him of something, but nothing came to his mind.

"Koga acted like he was better than us. Like as if he suspected Giovanni being the boss of Team Rocket for a long time and was just waiting till somebody else would realize. He said that he did his own investigation in the past and after getting to know Giovanni, they agreed to stay out of each other's way. He didn't look particularly happy about it. It seemed like he considered Giovanni the only person he ever met that was his match."

"So you didn't learn anything besides that?"

"Unfortunately not. We learned about the company he owned before but it seems like he dissolved it while taking all the money at the same time he abandoned his Gym. And all of his employees who could have some information about him, acted like they never saw him in person and never knew about his criminal career. There... There are two things that seem weird about all of this."

"What are they?"

"He sponsors orphanages. It seems he was pretty open about it but the money can't be traced back to him. The other thing is the fact pointed out by Koga before he left our group conversation. Although Team Rocket commit various crimes, it seems like they are less violent than other criminal organizations, especially toward humans. But I have no idea what either of these things mean. Brock tried to contact the Elite Four to try to get them to help but the bastards refused. They're even more annoying than Koga."

"That's all?"

"I'm afraid yes. Sorry. There wasn't anything helpful in what we learned."

"No, no problem." the boy said dismissively, while going into deep thought, already trying to decipher the clues he received.

. . .

A day later, Red was getting ready to leave Vermilion City. He called his parents, who seemed unaware of his adventure on St. Anne and his stay in the hospital, and told them about his progress, about getting the third badge and about Pikachu evolving. He gathered information and learned that the road leading directly to Saffron City was under construction and the closest place he could go to in order to get a badge was Celadon City. There were two ways to get there. A long one, through Cerulean City and mountains, and a shorter one to the east.

He arrived at the conclusion that Blue probably chose the latter so he decided that he would do the same. As he was leaving the city, he looked back and thought about all the stuff that he went through there, and about all the interesting people and Pokemon he met. Eevee, who was walking beside him, didn't understand that sudden nostalgia and decided to push his body against the boy's leg to make him move forward. Finally, they both started walking east, unaware that two pairs of eyes were keenly observing them from the shadows.

"Good. Now that he left the city, we can put our plan into action." said a male voice.

The other one answered him with a sound that carried with it a feeling of satisfaction and enjoyment.

* * *

The name of the chapter comes from the anime Toaru Kagaku no Railgun/A Certain Scientific Railgun. I've never actually watched it. I tried Index but it was kinda boring so I gave up. But the name fit because of Pikachu's final attack. I'm not going to pretend that I understand how railguns work but I came up with the attack when I decided that the gym walls are gonna be covered in metal. But the Wikipedia page for Railgun sounds similar to the thing Red came up with so I thinks it's okay. Red was actually supposed to come up with a name for it. Something like "Situational move: Bio Railgun" but I forgot about it since I wanted to get to the Team Rocket stuff.

I would also like to say that while I thought that name for the chapter would be cool and the final battle was the first one I came up with, I still think that Oddish deserves the most recognition. I had no problem with changing Pikachu's Thunder Shock to Thunderbolt but I didn't want to change Oddish's moveset and make myself a challenge since the 3 moves that he used previously were also support moves. I also considered giving him like Synthesis but went with Mega Drain since it woul probably be too hard to come up with a way to win against Electrode.

Apart from the battle, there's some information about Giovanni and Team Rocket. I kinda used Darkness Gang as an excuse for Red getting involved with them in the future. I also gave a taste of Koga's character. I can't wait to write about him. He's an eniterly different kind of guy than Lt. Surge yet both are still pretty badass. The last part will be explained the next time Red arrives in Vermilion City.

IMPORTANT: I may not be able to write and post anything for a couple months because of personal stuff. I'm not completely sure how it works out but don't worry if you don't see anything till january or february. I plan to keep on writing this as long as I have both of my hands, or until the story is done, which at the pace I'm going at will take several years.

At least I got to 100,000 words before taking a break :)

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmander, Raichu, Oddish, Magikarp.

Badges: 3

Green. Team: Ivysaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Bellsprout(Bell), Wartortle(Tori), Zubat(?), ?.

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: ?, ?.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.


	18. SS1: B-Side Part 1

This is probably not what you were expecting. I don't have a lot of time to write even though I have many ideas on what to write. It's more appropriate to explain this here than after the chapter. First off, this is a third format next to regular chapters and special chapters, a side story. What that means? How is a side story different from a special chapter? Probably length. I don't think any side story will be extremely long.

But the most important factor is that side stories don't fit in the main story. They exist as supplementary material which isn't necessary to understand the flow of things. They can take place anywhere and be about anyone as long as they are not about the main character in the present. Examples: A day in the life of Professor Oak, how did Green get his starter, what did Jon and Fille do after parting ways with Red(I'm not saying that I'm necessarily going to write any of those stories).

I knew that I wanted to do side stories but didn't really have any planned out. But I started writing the chapter in which Red catches up to Blue and stopped midway because I felt like there was not enough on the line. They haven't had any proper interactions for months so I somehow assumed that people wouldn't care. So what I'm gonna be doing for now is writing a couple short side stories which will show various moments from Red and Blue's travels for which there wasn't really place in the main story. It's also kinda more focused on Blue's perspective.

There may be up to 6 of them and the last one will probably be the only one that contains any realy plot. So if you feel like you have a good enough grasp of what Red and Blue's relationship is, you don't need to read most of them. But there still won't be a regular chapter for some time so you might as well. I'm not sure how long they are going to be. I will put numbers at the beginning to signify between which chapters each story takes place. That's all I think. If you're still confused(I'm kinda confused myself), then me.

Recommended music: Made in Abyss Ending

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Side Story 1: B-Side Part 1.

4.5

Blue was walking forward, her eyes trying to find something interesting to focus on. Unfortunately, every tree, every rock, every bush she passed, all seemed to look the same and she wondered if it was possible that she wouldn't die of boredom. Especially since her new travelling companion, Red, kept quiet as he walked in front of her. She looked at him from an angle to see if he was as bored as her but, to her surprise, he seemed to be in deep thought. It was weird that he was still able to choose the accurate path, even though his eyes were looking almost straight down. Curious about what he was thinking about, Blue picked up her pace so that she could walk roughly next to him, even though sometimes trees would get in the way.

"Whatcha focusing so hard on?" she asked while bending a little to get a frontal look at his face.

It looked like if he was taken out of a trance, since he blinked twice and slowed his step for a bit.

"I'm just doing the stuff I usually do to fight the boredom." he explained quickly.

Blue wasn't satisfied with the answer so she inquired further "And what would that be?"

"Oh, I'm thinking up strategies for my Pokemon."

Blue found that hard to believe "But... We've been walking for like 5 hours. How many strategies can you come up with?"

"Well... A few. But it's not like there is anything else to do." he looked at her as if what she said was completely ridiculous to him.

"We could... I don't know... Talk or something."

"Well, we're talking right now."

"That's not what I mean!" she wasn't too happy with him turning her words around.

"If we're gonna be talking all the time, we'll just get tired more easily." it seemed like he wanted to be as rational as he could.

"Speaking of getting tired..." she made a short pause to take a bigger step over a root sticking out from the ground "...Why are we walking through the forest and not on the main road?"

"It's so we can be closer to the stream."

"The stream?"

"Yeah. I'm not sure how many days it will take us to reach Pewter City so it would be good to have a place to refill water."

"But... How can you tell that there's a stream nearby?" she asked as she looked around in confusion, making sure that she didn't miss the thing they were talking about, but alas, it was nowhere in sight.

"Ever since I was young, I spent a lot of time in this forest. I never got this far but there were a lot of things I learned." he said before stepping next to a tree "You have to learn to listen to nature,"

He put his forehead against the tree and closed his eyes. After a while, he pointed a finger towards a bush.

"There's a Pokemon there... I think a Rattata... No, a Caterpie. He's eating something."

Blue went over and, by parting the leaves, was able to see the bug Pokemon munching on an apple.

"Wow." she said as a show of being impressed before turning to Red "How does that work?"

"It's not "magic" if that's what you think. It's just, when you spend a lot of time outside, you can focus to discern certain sounds, smells and feelings. I could probably tell you how old this tree is just by knocking on it 3 times."

"Really?!" she shouted so loudly that the Caterpie took its apple and ran away.

"Of course not. That's just a joke."

She made a pouting face since she felt disappointment when being made fun of.

"Here, you try it." He grabbed her by the hand and pulled her towards him before leaving the rest to her.

She did the same thing as he; put her head against the tree, closed her eyes and tried to focus.

"Let's see if you can find the stream."

"I'm not going to suddenly be able to do something which you learned over the years."

"Just try. I believe in you."

She tried putting any thoughts that came to her mind away and just concentrate on her attempt to hear the sound of water. She was about to give up since for a long while there wasn't anything besides silence, but it seemed like she finally heard something. It was faint but there was definitely something.

"I heard it!" she opened her eyes with excitement "Red, I heard..."

Blue was immediately overcome by a mix of confusion and disappointment when she saw that the thing that was making that sound was Red's mouth. He was standing a short distance away and lightly blowing wind with his mouth.

"What are you doing?" she asked while hoping that he would find a good reason for her not to get mad over what he did.

"Ah..." Red took a step back while looking at the girl's twitching eyebrow "...I just thought that I would give you confidence this way. Like a placebo? That's what they call it?"

"I don't need that!" she shouted while taking a couple quick steps in his direction.

It was so sudden that he fell on his bottom. She was about to punch him but stopped herself and calmed down. She looked towards the tree and went back to it.

"What are you..." Red began but was immediately interrupted.

"I'm going to learn it!"

"But... We don't know how long it's going to take."

"Then we'll stay here until I learn! And don't you dare make any sound!" she pointed at him before placing her head against the tree and closing eyes.

"Alright." Red responded.

He sat there for a couple minutes before deciding to take a nap.

They left that spot the next day, with Blue still unable to hear the voice of nature, although Red was forbidden from ever pointing that out.

* * *

Hey. At least with this type of side story, there aren't a lot of things to explain. The title "Side B" is a double pun. It's based on the fact that casettes have two sides, A-side and B-side, and here we see the other side of the story, Blue's side, so B-Side. Yeah. No one ever accused me of being clever. I wonder if people even care about the titles and the stupid amount of thought I put into them(imagine me shrugging).


	19. SS2: B-Side Part 2

Continuation of the Blue Side Story. This time, in Pewter City. I guess you could say this one is more important than the previous one but it's still just a kind of vignette and it's hard to tell how much, if any, influence it has. Even I, the author, am lost while trying to understand what's important enough for Blue to keep in her mind, even though I'm the one who is supposed to decide it.

Recommended music: Bakemonogatari Opening 4

What that thing above, and the one in the previous side story, mean, is what song I used to get myself into the mood of writing a particular chapter. Because, sometimes even if I have time and an idea of what I want to write about, it doesn't always work out. But sometimes, a familiar tune is exactly the right thing to get me into the writing mindset and I usually try to for a similar feeling as the song even if that doesn't always make sense. I know some japanese, but barely, so I don't know what a particular opening or ending is about unless I watch it with like english subtitles but I just get certain feelings from different types of music and when those feelings are the right thing for the thing I want to write(or I don't even realize I want to write), then that music is a lot of help.

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Side Story 2: B-Side Part 2.

6.5

Red did a slight bow in front of the nurse who healed his Pokemon after the battle against Brock, before he turned around and went upstairs to the room he and Blue were staying in. The girl was laying on her bed, with her face towards the door, but covered by a magazine she was holding in her right hand. At the same time, the left one was trying to find the box of cookies which was almost empty, even though the girl just bought them.

"What are you reading about?" he asked her while glancing at her before reaching for the bottle of water he placed on the nightstand earlier in the day.

She kept quiet while giving him a suspicious look. As he was about to take a sip, she reached towards him with her hand, even though she knew she wouldn't reach him.

"Wait!"

He froze in place, almost spilling some of the liquid before looking at her with a worried expression "What? What's wrong?"

"I already drank from that bottle. If you'd do it, it would be..." she made a pause to make a clearly feigned face of embarrassment "...an indirect kiss."

Red immediately processed what she said and started quickly drinking the water. Before Blue had time to react, he finished the whole thing. He wiped a few droplets that were hanging around his lips before staring down the girl with the look of defiance and victory.

"What's up with that reaction?!" she shouted in disappointment while jumping to her feet.

"Your pranks don't work on me. Besides, I already drank from it before I left it here so you also got and indirect kiss..." while explaining, he took a couple seconds to balance the empty bottle on the girl's head as a punishment "...stupid."

She quickly took her off and sat down on the bed before picking up the magazine in order to hide her embarrassed face behind it. Red decided to hover above her to see what she was reading about.

"Anything interesting?" he asked.

"Yeah. There's lots of stuff going. Not here though." she answered while turning the page "Oh. They have a new exhibition at the local museum. Rare gems..."

Her eyes lit up with curiosity. Red didn't really understand what was interesting about that but since the museum had other exhibitions, he thought that it would be worth going to check it out, especially since Blue kept quiet for a long while eyeing up a picture of a beautiful sapphire. There would something for both of them in there. And since there was no time like present, he took the magazine out of her hands, shocking her momentarily, before throwing it behind him in a nonchalant fashion.

"Let's go check out the real thing." he said while smiling lightly.

"Yes, let's do..." Blue got clearly excited but stopped herself from standing up when she realized that she shouldn't get her hopes up.

She had to kept count of the money she was provided by her parents. She could sometimes afford to treat herself to something like those cookies but she didn't want to waste the money, which her parents provided for her journey, on entertainment. She somehow even felt a little guilty about how much she was having while she should be focused on her mission of winning the Pokemon League. All those thoughts going through her head made her forgot that Red was standing in front of her, waiting for a response. She somehow felt that he wasn't the kind of person who would do it, but she couldn't stop voices in the back of her head which were telling her that he would have a worse opinion of her if he knew she was poor.

She kept quiet for so long that the boy was starting to get tired of waiting "What's up? Don't have money?"

Her response was quiet mumble. He hit the nail on the head but she didn't like how blunt he was with his words.

"I can pay for you." he said without waiting for a response.

"No!" she jumped up "No, no, no. No way. I could never accept that!"

She waved her hands in protest and closed her eyes for a moment while hoping that he would just give it up and she wouldn't have to feel embarrassed any longer. What he did was the exact opposite but somehow, it brought the relief she was hoping for.

"What if we make it a date?"

"Huh?"

Those words were so unexpected that it took her a while to gather her thoughts. She put her hands up to her face, afraid that she was blushing.

"A date?" she repeated while trying to avoid eye contact.

"Yeah. Well... Just in name. If it's a date, it won't be weird if I pay for you, but really, I just don't want to go alone."

She let out a sigh. It felt like somebody dropped a weight on her head when she realized that she misunderstood the meaning behind Red's words. Her face became more cheerful as she decided to look at the boy's face.

"Okay. It's a date."


	20. SS3: B-Side Part 3

Three done. Two to go. This is the first one that has more importance storywise. This one takes place after Red and Blue's encounter with Team Rocket at Mount Moon. I'm not sure if I properly conveyed how complicated the cave system was in that chapter, what with Green being very close to them at that time.

Recommended music: Flip Flappers Ending. (It's just that feeling of a couple of friends together on a peaceful adventure)

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Side Story 3: B-Side Part 3.

8.5

"Can't you do something?"

"Calm down. Your eyes will get used to the darkness soon."

Red's words weren't enough to get rid of Blue's worries. It was their third day in caves of Mount Moon and she was slowly beginning to realize that they may have been lost. She left the choice of their path up to Red since his survival knowledge proved useful in the past, but the result was the same as if a blind person were to lead her. Probably even worse.

The tunnel they walked into recently grew darker as they went on until they weren't able to see anything. After the fall she miraculously survived a couple days ago, she was worried about the danger of falling into any more holes. Even after she could see some things, she still couldn't stand the eerie atmosphere surrounding the place. As if, at any given moment, hundreds of eyes were following their every movement.

"Doesn't your Pikachu know Flash?" she asked while trying not to stutter out of nervousness.

"Why would it know Flash? I mean... I guess there are some tactics that it could be useful in but..."

Not interested in his digressions about Pokemon battles, Blue decided to get the boy back to the matter at hand "But... Couldn't you have it use electricity to light the place up?"

"Do you seriously think that Pikachu has an infinite amount of electricity it can use to light us the way?" he asked, his tone suggesting that what she said was the most inane idea he ever heard.

"It doesn't?" she asked since she wasn't sure if his question was a rhetorical one.

"No idea."

"Wha-?" she stopped, dumbfounded by his answer "Then what was that about?!"

"Just trying to lighten up the situation with a joke." he responded.

She was sure that if she could see him, he would be wearing that annoying smile he had whenever he had her tricked with his words, and it was already making her angry. Not at him. At herself, for not getting used to their conversations turning out in such ways. Even then, she felt slightly hypocritical, since she would treat him in a similar way while taking pleasure from his sulking expression.

"Oh. It seems that we've reached it." Red said after noticing some glimpse of light in front of him.

"Yeaaah, I'm not getting my hopes up." Blue answered in a sarcastic voice.

After about half a minute of avoiding stalagmites, they reached a part of the cave which had walls, and most of the floor covered and ceiling, covered in bioluminescent mushrooms. Their light was faint but it still was better than complete darkness, and when Blue gave it a couple seconds, she came to realize just how beautiful this place looked.

Red also stopped to take in the view even though he knew that they should get a move on, since resting in such a place would be difficult. While looking around to see each of the colors the mushrooms were glowing in, he thought he noticed some kind of gas flowing from somewhere below. He carefully approached the place while covering his mouth, to make sure it wasn't some kind of protective measure used by the plants but the gas looked more like steam. It was coming from a hole which was hard to notice among the mushrooms. He walked closer to analyze it, while making sure not to slip on the moist fungi.

Blue was so focused on admiring the beauty of the place that she didn't notice the boy's actions. In fact, she was so absorbed by it all, that she let her guard down which allowed one of the mushrooms to move in her direction and to lightly tap her leg. She glanced in the direction where Red was standing to make sure that this wasn't another prank, before she looked down to see what was it that interrupted her. When she noticed an enormous mushroom who was somehow staring at her, basic instincts took over and she immediately ran away from it, tripping midway and accidentally throwing herself and Red down the hole. Parasect slowly walked over to the hole and peered down inside but since it couldn't see the teenagers anymore, it left in disappointment.

Blue completely forgot about the mushroom which approached her as soon as she realized she was riding on Red's back, through some natural slide. It was even scarier than the railway they fell off a couple days earlier since they didn't know if they would slam into a wall or get suddenly pierced by some spike. Red was thankful that the walls his belly was sliding on were fairly smooth but he still felt like he wouldn't be able to take much more without getting at least some scratches.

Their road down lasted a lot shorter than it seemed to them. In couple second, they shot out of a wall in a big chamber filled with steam. They separated midair and had and equally unpleasant landing. Red got on both knees while massaging his belly to ease the pain. Blue got up quicker than him and had to hit her skirt to get rid of dust. Both of them soon noticed how hot it was in the place. Using their eyes to search their surroundings they found out that the room they landed in had some kind of underground hot spring. Additionally, an opening in the ceiling, which went up several meters high acted like a skylight. After looking into it for a while, they saw the Moon appearing from behind clouds and showering the cave with its light. Apart from that, the cave had some kind of moss which seemed to be able to store light and shine even brighter, specifically in shades of orange.

"I think I see an exit." announced Red.

Blue was so busy with admiring the beauty of the place that his voice felt like if someone woke her up from a deep sleep. She looked at him and saw that he was pointing towards a corridor that was big enough for them to walk through. She felt disappointed by the fact that they had to leave this room so quick. After putting her hand up to her chin and focusing on that thought for a couple seconds, she arrived at the conclusion that there really was no reason for them to hurry. When they were inside the mountain, it made no difference if it was day or night. She was getting slightly tired of walking around but maybe this place would prove the solution for that problem, especially since they didn't know what was ahead of them.

Red looked like he was getting impatient while waiting for any response from her. She thought that it was a good time to joke around with him. Without saying anything, she took of her hat and bag and placed them neatly together in a place free from moss. The boy was watching her movements with a confused face, possibly trying to decipher what it was she planned to do. It seemed like he started realizing what she was doing when she got rid of her shoes and socks but it wasn't until she started lifting her shirt that he ran towards her and grabbed her hands before she could go any higher than her belly. If he wouldn't do that, she was planning to stop at that point anyway. But seeing how flustered he looked, made her want to play around some more, without realizing how dangerous such thoughts were. Instead, the situation turned around when Red spoke up.

"Alright, alright!" he said "We can take a break! But just..."

He looked around before grabbing the biggest boulder he could lift and tossing it into the hot spring. He repeated that action a couple times. Finally, the boulders were stacked in a stable way.

"I'll look away. You can get undressed and sit with your back against the barrier I created. Then I'm going to do the same and sit on the other side. Then there won't be a problem, yeah?"

She was too stupefied by his reason to say anything beyond "Y-yeah."

A couple minutes later, both of them were completely naked and relaxing in the hot water on opposite sides of the handmade, boulder wall. Although, the world "relaxed" couldn't really apply to Blue who, for a reason unknown to her, was more bothered by the situation than Red, even though he was the one who would always get easily defeated by her playful nature. She tried not to think about it too hard since it would be too much effort and her brain could get fried. After they spent some time there and dried off, they went on their way. The path was lighted up by more moss, but instead of marveling at the sights, Blue's eyes were fixed on the back of the boy who was walking a couple steps ahead of her. She put one of her hands to her forehead. It was hot.

"Probably too much time in that water..." she whispered, trying to stay reasonable.

* * *

You know how you sometimes go into something and it turns into something completely different than expected? This was supposed to be another meaningless, fun, lil' story but then I got into it too much. I should really feel ashamed. But then again, this was probably the only good place for such things, considering where the next one will take us. Also, I'm not sure how do categories here work. I know that there's no 18+, but there's two, naked, underage characters in this side story. Like, is that stuff okay as long as there's no R-rated stuff? Like, for example if I wanted to describe how Blue looks in clothes that would be okay, but describing how she looked naked probably wouldn't, yeah? Even if in both instances I could state her breast size, in one of them it would seem wrong. I don't know if I just didn't see them, but I would feel safer if there were some clearer guidelines. Can somebody tell me if I'm worrying too much about this stuff? I never really planned for any explicit content, just wanted to make sure.


	21. SS4: B-Side Part 4

4/5. This one takes place after Blue and Red parted ways but probably before Red caught Oddish.

Recommended music: "With a Few Good Friends" from Piglet's Big Movie(Specifically the polish version which is called "Kilku kumpli weź", but the english one is also good). I got this song in my head even before I was completely sure what the chapter would be about. I had like an idea of what it would be but that wouldn't be enough so I let it become something else. I'm not even sure why I remembered this song but I know that's the only Winnie the Pooh song I can sing in any capacity.

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Side Story 4: B-Side Part 4.

11 - Parallel

Blue opened her eyes and immediately closed them again. She still didn't get enough sleep but it seems some bird Pokemon must have landed on the tree next to which she set up her tent. She almost slipped up while getting herself to a sitting position. She started wondering what time it was. If it was still early, she would try to go back to sleep, but if it was late, it was weird that Red didn't wake her up. She was still out of it and that passing thought wasn't enough.

Only after standing up and opening her tent, she realized that Red wasn't there. No sleeping bag, no makeshift roof, no breakfast waiting for her. She felt a little sad when she reminded himself how they parted ways a couple days earlier but that feeling immediately change to disappointed. She needed to believe that she could function properly without him and that meant having an ability to wake up early.

She looked to the sky and from what she could tell, it was almost 10 am. She was in a daze for a short while before she reminded herself that she needed to make herself a breakfast and to dismantle the tent. When she looked down, she saw Bell who was already awake but had his eyes closed as he enjoyed bathing in the sun.

"Bell?" she asked, quietly, in order not to startle him.

The Pokemon opened his eyes and after seeing the girl, smiled happily, before carefuly detaching his roots from the ground. He walked over to receieve a pat on the head.

"I have a mission for you. Are you ready?" she tried to sound serious, making a voice that would suit an officer of some kind.

Bellsprout decided to play along and saluted her while putting on an intimidating face, showing that he was focused and preapred to do whatever was required of him.

"I'm gonna fold down the tent and gather some wood to set up a campfire. But it's already late and we're out of water. Can you find a stream and fill up a bottle or two?"

Bellsprout nodded and after recieving the bottles which his trainer took out of her inventory pad, he went on his way. After a couple minutes, he began to realize that he didn't have any reason to believe that the direction he was walking in would lead him to a stream and he could end up wandering for too long and miss the breakfast. He couldn't allow that to happen.

After placing the empty bottles below him and grabbing them with his roots, he used Vine Whip on a sturdy tree branch and launched himself high into air. He had a couple seconds before he would land but he still wanted to survey the area as quickly as possible. Although he didn't see a stream because of how dense the forest was, there was a gap in it, where there were no trees, which was stretching as far as the horizon. He deduced that it was a big stream, or even a river and, after grabbing another branch, started swinging through the treetops, headed in that direction.

A short amount of time later, he landed next to the stream, which had white rocks and dust spreading along its shore, after doing an amazing backflip. He thought to himself that it was a shame that there was no one there to witness his acrobatic abilities. Not wasting any time, he let go of the bottles and proceeded to fill them with the water. After closing the first one, he turned around to reach for the second, not realizing that someone has appeared on the opposite shore.

Only after turning back towards the stream, his eyes caught a glimpse of something. After lifting his head, what he saw shocked him so much that it caused him to immediately drop the bottle. In front of him were Eevee and Pikachu, seemingly assigned a similar task to his own, since the former had two empty bottles straped to his back. If he were a human, Bell would probably try to rationalize that those were not the same Pokemon he knew but the monsters could see particular traits of other ones which allowed them to immediately recognize any Pokemon they've met in the past.

The other party looked similarly surprised by their meeting but Pikachu was the one who came back to his senses faster than the other two. He immediately turned around and prepared himself to run. Seeing that, Bellsprout also got over the initial shock and acted instantly, hoping to do what was best in his trainer's interest, since it was obvious what the electric Pokemon planned to do. Bell used his vine on a tree next to Pikachu and launched himself in a way that would allow him to block the mouse's path. Pikachu started running at the same moment but when the unexpected obstacle suddenly appeared before him, he had to brake with his legs which caused him to slip and bounce off the ground, sending him flying above the plant Pokemon.

Bellsprout didn't have time to react, especially since he didn't expect the mouse to recover instantly, but there was someone there that wanted to help him in stopping Pikachu's advance. Eevee used Mirror Room to make sure that Pikachu would not stay in place. He kept it up until he noticed that the mouse decided to give up and see what the other two had to say. Eevee wanted his friend to knew that they were both on the same side, but at the same time he also considered Bellsprout to be one of them. If Pikachu did what he planned, it would please Red but Bellsprout could be put in a hard situation.

The mouse, even after all that time, was still learning how to live in such a way where he didn't care only about his own well-being. The sad eyes of the worried plant broke his resolve. He looked at him while trying not to lose composure but finally, he gave up and decided that they should let Bellsprout leave. The grass Pokemon was unsure but Eevee convinced him that he should go away before looking at him would change Pikachu's mind. The dog promised to keep the mouse honest and the two sides parted ways.

. . .

"There you are, Bell." said Blue who was already busy with grilling a couple berries over the fire.

Only after hearing her voice, the grass Pokemon returned to a clear state of mind. This also caused him to realize that he forgot to fill one of the bottles. Blue noticed that but decided not to comment. She trusted her Pokemon enough that she knew that something must have stopped him from doing it.

Seeing that he seemed down, she extened a hand, holding a stick with an impaled berry, towards him "Here. Try this. It's still not good as Red's but maybe it'll lift your spirits."

He noticed that even after leaving Red, his trainer would still mention the boy a lot. This made him wondered if what he did was right. But in the end, even if he cared deeply about the girl, he had to believe in her decisions, even if she were to regret them someday.

. . .

A couple kilometers away, Red, who was resting with his Charmander, after a Pokemon battle, was deeply confused as to why Eevee and Pikachu returned without bringing back any water.

"You didn't drink it all on the way back, did you?" he aksed while raising a brow.

Eevee was keeping a watch of the mouse who seemed like he was giving it his all not to get angry.

* * *

Initially the only thing I wanted this chapter to do was to show how Blue was holding up after leaving Red but this kind of story is also good to have, especially since Bellsprout didn't get focus since Chapter 4. That's it.


	22. SS5: B-Side Part 5

5/5

This one is probably the most important in helping understand Blue. It takes place at the same time Red was saying goodbye to Phantom Venin.

Recommended music: Tokyo Underground Opening 1. I recently got reminded of that Pokemon Special edit.

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Side Story 5: B-Side Part 5.

S1 - Parallel

As soon as their battle with the giant Tentacruel was finished and they received a message saying that they would safely return to Vermilion City, Blue began worrying about the fact that Red was right there with her and that it meant he could try to talk to her about her leaving. She definitely didn't feel ready to do that. She looked quickly in his direction and noticed that instead of walking up to her, he went in the opposite direction. What could that mean? Did he actually believe that the things she wrote were the whole truth and was that really enough to convince him that they needed to travel separately? But the thing that made her feel ashamed was that she felt some unconscious hope that he would actually try to get the information out of her. If he didn't, then it seemed like she was fooling herself and their relationship wasn't as important to him as to her.

She looked at the other people gathered around and quickly deduced that they were all fighting together because they gathered around Red. To someone who could make friends so easily, someone with a mean attitude, like her, wasn't worth bothering about. Those were the thoughts that made her inform Lt. Surge that she was going to rest, while in truth, she just wanted to get away, in case Red would return and she would have to deal with her fears becoming a reality.

After sitting down in a dark corner somewhere, she looked at her hands while still trying to deal with the mess of thoughts that was confusing her mind further and further. Bell and Tori stood beside her, looking at each other as if hoping that the other one would have some kind of idea on how to cheer up their trainer.

"Red isn't like that." she spoke up, even though she didn't immediately recognize that it was her voice that said those words.

It felt like her confidence and trust in Red joined forces and punched through the ceiling of her worries to deliver a message to her. She didn't think about what was important. She was assuming the worst case scenario even though she never was the kind of person to do that. She knew what weakened her so much that she would have those kind of baseless thoughts. She couldn't get rid of that. Both the positive and negative parts of her mind were what made her the person she was. That didn't mean that she couldn't take control and apply logic, even if her feelings wanted her to do otherwise.

"I have to believe in him." she said, this time almost completely sure of herself.

She finally reached a conclusion. She knew Red and through all these times they spent together, he believed in her and never gave her a reason for why she shouldn't do the same for him. It was her own worries that tainted the image of him that she had in her mind and heart.

It didn't change the fact that she wasn't ready to face since she still wasn't confident enough that she would be able to handle the situation in a good way but she knew that if they ever met and Red would demand her to explain herself, it would be because he was ready to learn the truth. But that was just one of many options. Red wasn't an inquisitive type so there was a chance that he didn't care about any additional stuff and just wanted to have things back to normal, to them travelling together and having fun. Blue's biggest worry was what she could say so that neither of them would be hurt. But, could Red actually be hurt by words?

"Gaaah. Stop it!" she grabbed the sides of her head since she started getting a headache from overthinking all that stuff "You'll deal with it when it comes to it!"

She laid down on the floor, looking at the stars.

"When." she repeated "Definitely a "when"."

* * *

I feel a lot of worry when writing, probably even more than Blue does about her whole situation, and the reason is that I think a lot of the stuff I write can be looked upon in a negative way. I went a lot deeper into how Blue deals with this stuff than I did with Red, and that could be misconstrued as me making Blue more vulnerable because she's a girl. That's probably partly true but more so, it just shows how simple-mined Red is in comparison to her. Green is a good medium. He would probably be as worried as Blue if it was him in that situation but he would deal with it better. I don't want this to become a standard for how I write females but it's still kinda unfortunate that this is how the first main female character came out. I'm probably overthinking it. When Chapter 17 is done and you'll get the whole picture, there probably will be people who'll go like "Yeah, I get it". I already feel dumb about it. It's not like really need readers to feel sympathy towards Blue. If you do, then that's okay.

Moving onto other stuff. I've got no money to afford a Switch, not to mention any games on it, but I've been reading up on Pokemon Let's Go and watching some videos on YouTube and while I don't really have a strong opinion about the catching system or whatever else people are bothered by, I think that there are some cool ideas in those games and maybe I'll do my twist on one or two of them sometime in the future.

Another thing I've noticed is the Bellsprouts. I haven't been following trailers so I don't know if people knew about that before playing the game, but you can catch Bellsprouts at the beginning of the game, on Route 1, Route 2 and in Viridian Forest. But only in the Eevee version(In Pikachu you have Oddish). Bellsprout and Eevee? Sounds familiar? I just thought this was a cool coincidence.

I think I said that Chapter 17 is already started but I'm kinda sick at the moment and I can't look at a screen too long so I won't write it too quickly. I'll still do my best to deliver it as soon as possible. Until then, Merry (insert the holiday you're celebrating here).


	23. 17: Rhapsody in Blue

Recommended Music: Obviously Rhapsody in Blue, but also that commercial Bump of Chicken did for Lotte.

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 17: Rhapsody in Blue.

"Do you want some roasted chestnuts?"

"A what now?"

"Roasted chestnuts. I'm gonna make some."

"Aren't chestnuts poisonous? What are you even talking about?"

"No, no. Some are. Not these. See? They're different."

"Just because they have a pointy end doesn't mean they're not gonna kill you if you eat them."

"Yes it does."

"No, it doesn't!"

Although the conversation grabbed his interest, Red didn't intend to stop and listen to it. He wanted to catch up to Blue as soon as possible so he put in effort to walk more in a day than he normally would. This way he reached the eastern end of Route 11 where he met with an astonishingly huge camping ground. He had to squeeze between multiple tents to continue his journey and during those times, he would hear more of these kind of conversations. The situation was annoying enough that he finally decided to ask a random person about what was going on.

"Excuse me." he said while stopping near a lone man who was in the middle of seasoning food he planned to fry on a portable stove.

"Yes?" the person looked at him.

"Why is there so much people here? Is there a music festival nearby or something?"

"No, nothing of the sort. The road is blocked."

"The road is blocked?" Red repeated with a worried voice "That means that I'm gonna have to go back and around through Vermilion and Cerulean."

"Or you could stay and give it a try."

"Give what a try?"

"It's not much further. You should go and see for yourself."

"Alright. I'll check it out." he responed, leaving the man, more confused than he was before asking the questions.

. . .

After walking for a couple more minutes, Red took notice that there were less and less tents but there was still a large number of people around. While looking around to see what it was that brought everyone to this place, he bumped into a teenage boy who immediately shoved him back. He looked as if he was already angry and Red just annoyed him more.

"What are you trying to pull?! The end of the line is there!" he said while pointing backwards with his thumb.

It was at that moment, that Red noticed a long queue, which constantly had new people joining it, leading to a small building. Many of them had their Pokemon outside of their pokeballs. He also overheard a lot of strategizing. He concluded that whatever was going, it must have been somehow related to Pokemon battles. He went further while avoiding the queue and reached the building. It looked like a house combined with a gift shop and a restaurant. He decided to approach a lady sitting at the information counter since she looked a lot less busy than the one before whom the enormous queue was lined up.

"Excuse me. Could you explain what is this place for?"

She stared at him, looking as if she was surprised that anyone would speak to her "Oh... Okay. This place was built by a rich Pokemon enthusiast to make the whole process of fighting the guardian more organized. That person over there gives people tickets which signify the order in which they can challenge the guardian. Although some of them aren't there for themselves and are instead giving their chance to one of the regulars. We also decided to make some money by selling food and drinks. Oh. And there's the gift shop where you can buy memorabilia of the guardian and the popular regulars."

Red still was a little confused as to what was going on so he decided to go see what the guardian the woman was talking about looked like. He left the building and, while making sure not to disturb any more people, walked even further. Finally, he arrived at a wall of people who looked as if they who acted and sounded like they were spectators of some event. He carefully made his way through the crowd till he was at the front and could see what got everyone so excited. His eyes made a couple quick movements, trying to follow the events that were unfolding in front of him but before he could understand the situation, the only thing he saw was something flying in his direction.

"Watch out!" he could tell those words apart from the yells of many spectators.

His instinct was to close his eyes and probably brace for any pain, but whatever hit him wasn't too hurtful. He opened his eyes back again and saw a boulder which used an arm-like protrusion to stop itself from flying into the crowd. Unfortunately, the earth was muddy enough that some of it shot out from under the rock and covered Red's hoodie. The boy was far more interested in the thing in front of him, which he assumed to be a Pokemon, than in his clothes getting dirty. The boulder suddenly sprouted 5 additional limbs and took a second to look at the crowd, probably to make sure that nobody got hurt, before it rolled up again and took off.

Red used his Pokedex to learn some quick facts about Graveler before returning to spectating whatever it was that was happening in front of him. The rock Pokemon was advancing towards a Snorlax, which the teenager also knew thanks to his device. It looked like a one on one battle between those two but it seemed like only one of them had a trainer giving it commands, but Red wasn't close enough to hear whom the commands were being given to. The distance between them was also one of the things which prevented the boy from instantly recognizing the trainer. Another reason was that she changed clothes. Since the crowd was gathered around the battle in a semi-circle, Red started walking to one of the sides while making sure to lower his head, in order not to obstruct anyone's view. Finally, he could get a good look at her face and confirm that the trainer was in fact none other than Blue.

"Found ya." he said, not realizing how big the smile on his face was.

He realized that it wasn't a good idea to interrupt the battle so he proceeded to observe the rest of it. After watching it for some time, it was easier to tell that the Pokemon Blue was giving orders to was the Graveler. That must have meant that Snorlax was the guardian he heard about. But what was it guarding exactly? Since it seemed like the battle was fairly even, Red decided that it would be a good idea to learn more about the situation instead of just waiting around. He made his way through the crowd and approached a thing he noticed a while earlier. It was a big stone arch. After taking a closer look, he realized that it was part of a bridge leading over an enormous chasm, probably an after-effect of some earthquake.

"Hmm. So it's guarding this bridge?" he said to himself, slowly beginning to understand the situation "And probably only those who beat it in a battle can cross it... But what about people with Flying type Pokemon?"

"It won't attack them. It has a sense of honor." someone unexpectedly answered Red's question.

He turned around and saw a woman in a costume similar to the one worn by the nurses in Pokemon Centers.

"And you are?"

"I'm one of the people responsible for taking care of the guardian. Me and my team heal it after every battle and provide it with food and water since he ate everything that was around and doesn't move from this place. It would starve without us." she explained.

"But what is the point of this?"

"We're not exactly sure. Whoever ordered this bridge to be built supposedly told the guardian to protect it. If people don't want to pass the bridge directly or if they don't have any Pokemon with them, he leaves them alone. But if you have even one Pokemon, you have to defeat the guardian in a one on one battle if you want to pass. We are here to make sure that every battle is fair."

"And you have the whole ticket system to make sure that everything runs smoothly."

"Yup."

Red turned his eyes towards the ongoing battle and asked the thing that interested him the most "How many people were able to defeat the guardian so far?"

"Hmm... It's been here for around 2 years and to my knowledge... it hasn't lost once."

Red looked at her with a shocked expression and noticed that she had a kind of smirk that looked like she received some kind of pleasure from the fact that the guardian remained undefeated.

"You should wipe that smile off your face." Red said to her in a mocking voice.

A vein popped up to her forehead. She took a couple steps, to the point where her face was uncomfortably close to his.

"What was that? You think you're some hot shit? That you're gonna beat the guardian?"

"Not me. Her." he said while pointing towards Blue, without breaking eye contact with Snorlax's caretaker.

Although his confidence in Blue's victory wasn't unsubstantiated, it failed him this time since at that exact moment, both he and the woman in front of him heard a loud noise and turned their eyes towards the battlefield only to fitness the guardian standing triumphally over the unconscious Graveler.

"You were saying?" the woman asked in an arrogant voice, after taking a step back.

The teenager didn't care about her moral victory as much as about getting to speak with Blue, especially since the girl quickly returned her Pokemon to its pokeball and was slowly retreating towards the crowd. He ran after her, passing the guardian on the way. Snorlax glanced at him but it must have deduced that the boy wasn't there to fight him so it let him pass and started making its way towards the team responsible for taking care of it. Red was about to catch up to Blue when his way was blocked by the crowd. They didn't do it intentionally. It just seemed like Blue became popular in her short time at this place.

Some people were asking her for advice, others were giving words of encouragement, while yet other people were ready to give her their tickets just so they could see her fighting again sooner. Although most of them were swarming around her because of her abilities as a trainer, some were clearly more interested in the girl's looks and were trying to get her to notice them, probably to have a one on one chat.

Red was trying to squeeze through the crowd to get to her but the people were squeezed too tight and he ended up being pushed back as if the people were a trampoline for him to bounce off. Although he could barely see her at that point, he noticed that Blue also wasn't too excited about all the attention she was getting. She was putting her hands up to keep to let the people know that she wanted some space but the people kept getting closer to her.

"Okay. If this goes on, I'll never get a chance to talk with her. Magikarp, I need your help."

Red released the fish from its pokeball. The Pokemon looked at him with readiness.

"I'll need you to Bounce me into the middle of that group of people and then right back out, but I want to grab an additional person while in there. It's not really a matter of time, but... can you lift us?"

Magikarp smiled confidently and flapped one of his fins as if he wanted to make a thumbs up gesture. After that, the Pokemon gathered its strength and used it to jump as high as it could. Red allowed him to bounce in front of him two times, so that Magikarp could gain some height, before he grabbed onto him and both traveled far above the crowd. The people were too busy with pestering Blue to notice that something unusual was happening behind them.

The teenage trainer and his Pokemon had to focus on aiming in what way they would bounce, in order not to crash into anyone by mistake. They managed to land perfectly but Red had only a fraction of a second to act before they would bounce again. Thankfully, his reflexes were heightened thanks to all the things he had to go through during his travels. He grabbed Blue's hands before she, or anyone else for that matter, could realize what had happened.

"What?!" the girl shouted in surprise since the first thing she noticed was that she somehow was several meters above ground and still getting further from it.

"Sorry to drop in unannounced!" Red had to yell because the speed at which they were travelling was making it hard to hear anything.

Somehow, the shock of seeing her friend was greater than that she was flying through the air and Blue's hand almost escaped Red's grasp. To prevent her from falling, he grabbed her tighter and brought her close to himself. Even though all these things happening at once were messing with her head, she still had a clear enough mind that she could ask an essential question.

"How are we going to land?!"

"You know, I hadn't thought about that!" he responded in an annoyingly frank way "But we still have at least a couple seconds. I'll think something up!"

"I hope!" she shouted, in a clearly more distressed voice.

They were already at the apex of their bounce when Red came up with an idea. He let go of Magikarp and quickly returned him to his pokeball. Meanwhile, Blue shifted her arms around so that she could grab onto Red and give him easier use of his hands. The boy took out another ball and summoned Eevee who landed on his head.

"I need you to create the biggest Superstar you can!"

The dog took some time, during which they already fell a couple meters, to gather energy before it shot out a star that was around one meter in diameter. Red was close enough to step onto it. Although their descent wasn't slowed down, the idea was that at least while standing on it, he could control the way in which they were falling. After returning Eevee to the pokeball, the next one he called out was Charmander. Even though there was probably enough space for her to stand on the star, Blue was still hovering above it, clinging to Red's neck.

"Charmander, use Flamethrower to steer us towards the forest!"

The lizard started shooting a stream of flames from its mouth. It was strong enough to change the direction the star was moving in but it also gave them an unnecessary boost. Red recalled the Pokemon and looked at Blue who still looked afraid by the situation he placed them in.

"It's your turn!" he announced.

Those words and the look of confidence on Red's face brought her to back to her senses.

"Alright! I've got this! Tori! Bell!"

Wartortle and Bellsprout appeared on the surface of the star and immediately understood what was happening, but still looked to their trainer to receive orders.

"Tori, slow us down with Water Gun! Bell, when we're low enough, use your vines to makes a safety net!"

Her idea worked out excellently. Wartortle's move more than halved their speed and gave Bellsprout enough time to shoot several vines between a group of trees, creating a pattern similar to an enormous spider web. The landing wasn't exactly nice but at least nobody got hurt. As they lay on the vines, the thing Blue couldn't stop wondering about was if Red already came up with the tactic she used and that was the reason why he shouted that it was her turn. Both of them had to catch their breath so they remained in the same positions they landed in for a while. Meanwhile, Bellsprout slowly lowered them all to the ground.

"Huh... Huh... You can let go of me already..." said Red, since he noticed that Blue laying on top of him wasn't helping with slowing down his breathing.

When the girl realized that she was still hugging him, she immediately rolled to the side and stood up as fast as she could, her face completely red. Since they finally had a moment of rest, Red could finally get a batter look at her new clothes. She had black, form fitting pants with red patterns resembling pokeballs running down the side, grey overknees with flat soles and a dark blue jacket. Additionally, she didn't have the hat she usually wore. After eyeing her up, he also slowly got on his feet, while getting rid of the dirt on his pants.

"I should really get a Flying type Pokemon." he commented, remembering the previous instance in which he risked his life while using Magikarp to travel in a dangerous way.

"Why do you always have to do everything so recklessly? That's exactly why I left you." Blue complained quietly, as if the words weren't meant for Red's ears.

After hearing that, he rotated his eyes, since he wanted to start off the whole thing in a proper way, but that moment was as good as any to begin, especially since it didn't seem like anybody followed them into the forest.

"That's a lie." he said without beating around the bush.

"What?" it seemed like his words took Blue out of deep thought since she looked at him with a face saying that she didn't hear, or maybe didn't understand, him.

"I said "that's a lie". What I mean by that is..." he stopped for a second so that he could properly articulate what he wanted to convey "...You leaving suddenly and leaving that note... combined with the fact that you've avoided me after the battle on St. Anne... It just doesn't make sense."

Blue took a step back. She still didn't have a proper way to explain herself to Red and it already was taking all of her will not to run away, just so he herself wouldn't have to face the truth that she already thought over almost every day since they parted ways. But at that moment, standing face to face-to-face, her train of thought once again went to the things she was concerned about after their meeting on St. Anne. Even though she talked herself into thinking that the things she did were for both of their sakes, when being right next to him, she felt like she acted awfully selfish all that time and the thought that ruled her mind at that moment was what response would be less hurtful towards Red. She didn't notice how long it was taking for any words to come out of her lips.

"Are you okay?" Red asked to break the silence "Sorry if I..."

"No!" she stopped him, since she felt that she was the one at fault and couldn't bring herself to make him feel like he did something bad "You have... nothing to apologize for."

"Do... Do you?" he asked to feel out how she felt about the whole thing, since he didn't want to mess up their conversation from the start.

"I..." she froze up, since the thing that came to her mind was a request that seemed outrageous in her eyes, yet was the only way she could think of at that moment to have a proper talk "Can you promise me you won't get upset... whatever I say?"

She had to wait a couple seconds for his response since the things she said were unexpected and he had to give them some thought.

"Well... You know me. Have you ever seen me get actually upset?"

In her mind it seemed like the landscape surrounding them suddenly turned to glass and the ground beneath her suddenly broke, making her fall into an abyss, only to land on a soft pillow, with Red who placed it there, standing right next to her. She came back to her senses and smiled. He was right. Self-pity was like an unknown concept to him. Whenever he had to deal with something negative, he immediately would find a way to turn the situation around and come out of any trouble with his head held up high.

"You're right. I'm not usually one to overthink stuff myself... It's just... There's this thing... and I feel like if we talk about it, we may never be like we were before." she explained, carefully choosing her words in order to observe the slight changes in his expression.

"Huh..." Red scratched himself behind the ear, since he didn't expect this to become so complicated that they would have to have a conversation about whether they should have a conversation "I... I don't think there's anything you could say that would change what I think of you. Or rather... Whatever you may have done or said, wouldn't make me think less of you since I would assume you had a good reason."

"Is that how you feel about me?" she asked while beginning to slowly walk around him, while lowering her gaze.

"I guess. Yeah."

"Could you say that again?" she gave him a quick glance.

"I... What?"

"How do you feel about me?"

"I mean... I trust you. I like you. I like spending time with you. Uuhh... Should I talk about your looks? I... I just wanted to have a conversation but it turned into me praising you..." he looked a little helpless at the end, at same time trying to follow her movements.

"And... Did you ever wonder what I think about you?"

He looked completely clueless about what she was trying to do but decided to ask her just to make some progress with their conversation "What do you think about me?"

She finally stopped walking, lifted up her head and looked in his direction, with blushing cheeks and a big smile.

"I think I love you."

* * *

At this point, I would be surprised if there was anyone who didn't see it coming. It's hard to write about this stuff in a subtle way, especially since I myself know nowt about love. But this was months in the making and I tried to approach the topic carefully. This isn't really a romance story so Red's character serves to offset the stuff Blue is going over in her head. If both of them acted in that way, I would feel extremely miserable. It's still an important part of Blue's development but I like to think that this way it comes out more as a cute "will he, won't he" than a madman going "ohmygod, ohmygod, what if he says no".

I have some more stuff besides Red's reaction, answer and how things will work out between them, so I decided to leave it at a point which I hope will make you restleslly wait for the next chapter which will come out who knows when. It'll probably be shorter than this so maybe I'll manage to squeeze it in before the end of the year but it's hard to tell.

I could probably talk about other things that happened in this chapter, but there really wasn't anything meaningful. The whole Snorlax thing is in the games so here I just made a bigger deal out of it. I like the idea that even though Magikarp is a Water type, he's essentialy serving as Red's Flying type for the moment, especially if you take into account the fact that his evolution is a Flying type.

If you see any errors(I'm not talking about the fact that I have no clue about laws of physics), then let me know and I'll probably try to fix them. Most of the time I remember to send my stuff through Word after writing it, but when I'm writing it, I'm in a trance and sometimes make mistakes that Word won't catch.

Useless fact about me: I recently got into Azur Lane. My favorite is Yamashiro.

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmander, Raichu, Oddish, Magikarp.

Badges: 3

Green. Team: Ivysaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, ?.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Bellsprout(Bell), Wartortle(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: ?, ?.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.


	24. 18: Am I Blue?

Recommended Music: Green Green Opening. Just... don't judge me. I watched this stuff when I started getting into anime for real in middle school. Years after I can recognize that it was pretty much trash, but even now I like to watch some trash from time to time but I'm at the point where I put it on like 1.3-1.5 on VLC. But I digress. The song is good. It helped me get in the mood where I wrote the whole chapter in one sitting that's enough.

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 18: Am I Blue?

"I think I love you."

After hearing Blue's words, Red stood there for what he seemed to him like eternity. He couldn't move an inch and the girl's words completely jumbled up any stream of thoughts he was trying to follow, leaving his brain completely empty, essentially making him look like a lifeless statue for a good couple seconds. He was grasping at straws and unfortunately, the one he grabbed was the worst one he could pick at that moment.

"You... You shouldn't go so far with your jokes."

Before he could realize his mistake, Blue ran over to him an delivered a swift uppercut which sent the unprepared boy flying. He fell on his back and looked at the sky with confusion. He didn't really understand how he got on the ground and why his chin was hurting. Meanwhile, Blue stood over him, massaging her hand. She never had to hit anyone and wasn't suspecting how hard Red's jaw was.

"You hit me." Red spoke up while quickly sitting up, still not sure about what just happened.

Blue unconsciously felt bad about what she did so she kneeled down and grabbed hold of Red's face with her other hand and checked whether there was any damage.

"You'll be fine." she said after examining him.

"Con wyu lt go?"

"What? I can't under..." she stopped when she realized that he couldn't speak properly because she was squeezing his cheeks, and let go of his face.

After that, she offered help in getting him to stand up. Even though he didn't need it, he felt it would be better to go along with whatever she wanted for the time being in order not to get hit a second time.

"Do you understand why I hit you?" she asked while glaring at him.

"Well, that I understand..." he answered while lightly massaging his chin "...But the rest of it... I don't understand."

"I..."

"I thought that since we were friends, I could understand you, even if I couldn't tell what you were thinking sometimes... But..." he tried avoid eye contact since he felt bad about what he was saying "...After you said "that", I feel like I don't know you at all."

"Of course you know me!" the words came out louder than she intended to since she was scared by Red's reaction.

"Since when?" he asked.

"Since when do you know me?"

"No, dummy. Since..." he felt embarrassed by the thought of having to say those words "Since when did you love me?"

"I don't know." she responded without taking a second to think.

"Wha-? That doesn't make sense!" yet again he got the feeling that this could be some elaborate prank.

She waited a little before mentioning her suspicion since it wouldn't paint her in a good light "I realized it sometime after that whole hot spring thing in Mt. Moon." she said while using hands to cover her blushing cheeks.

"Pervert." Red said, although he didn't do it in a serious manner, but rather in a teasing tone which the girl well knew.

"It wasn't that! I've probably loved you earlier! I might have even fallen for you during our first meeting!" her shouting continued to get louder and louder.

Red felt shivers running over his body. He didn't know what kind of answer he expected but he was surprised nonetheless. He never once considered how attractive he could appear to females and even what parts of him were the ones that could make someone fall in love with him. It wasn't that he didn't have confidence in his own looks but he didn't put much effort into them. His personality was also nothing special, at least from what he could tell. He didn't really care to learn since it could very well be a case by case basis and it wasn't like it would help him in anyway, aside from maybe understanding Blue. But he suspected that even if he asked, it would be too problematic for her to explain what she liked about him.

"...rstand that!" was what he heard after being suddenly taken out of his thoughts when he realized Blue was still talking to him.

"Wha-?"

"The only important thing is that I didn't want it!" she shouted.

"What are you on about?" he asked since it felt like he missed an important part of the conversation.

"Gah!" she yelled out in anger at how hard it was to deal with this situation, after which she striked a pose while pointing at him with her right hand "I don't want to love youuu!"

Red looked past her finger which almost poked him in the eye, and at her face which looked passionate, satisfied and relieved at the same time. He pushed her hand to the side, took a step forward, quickly grabbed her face and delivered a light headbutt. It wasn't painful but she was so shocked that she stood there for a while, touching her forehead, and looking around while making unintelligible noises, as if she was hoping that the forest would hold some clue as to what just happened.

"Why are you acting like it's my fault?!" yelled Red.

"I'm sorry!" she responded, not sure whether she should feel bad about it.

The thing that made her calm down was the slight smile that appeared on Red's face right after that. He reached towards her head with one of his hands so she closed her eyes, prepared to receive any other punishment he wished to inflict upon her. Instead, she felt his hand lightly caressing her head.

"So you left me suddenly in Cerulean because you didn't want to deal with these feelings?"

She nodded in response.

"That thing I said earlier... When I said that I didn't know you... I went a little too far. Also, I feel like we're both to blame. We're friends, aren't we? We should be able to rely on each other."

"Can we..." she started while lowering her gaze in shame "Can we still be friends?"

Red didn't want it to seem like he was hesitating so he gave a quick answer "Of-Of course we can."

"You know... The reason why I left was because it would be hard... It's another thing if I had to fight my friend in the Pokemon League. But if it's someone I love... Could I choose between my dream and them? Could I go all out?"

"I have literally no idea." he answered nonchalantly.

"Gee, thanks a lot." she said in a sarcastic voice "I mean... I thought if I didn't see you long enough, maybe I could get over it and we could return to being friends one day..."

"Stop it! We're still friends!" he looked visibly angry while yelling that.

"Sorry." she looked saddened, disappointed by how she couldn't think of any way to deal with the situation, even with Red being there to help her.

Red wondered how to cheer her up, at least momentarily.

"Also, it's like you expected that I wouldn't feel the same."

"What?" she looked up while wiping away a tear that was forming in her eye.

"It just seems like you assumed the worst possibility. You haven't considered what would happen if I also fell in love with you?"

Her face instantly became red and she quickly escaped the hand that was still laying on her head.

"You're joking, right?"

"Unfortunately. I'm not sure what love feels like. I'm kinda disappointed."

"What do you mean?"

He decided to imitate the movements she did right before her confession. He walked around for a couple seconds before looking here straight in the eye.

"You said that you don't want to love me, yet for me, you're probably my favorite person in the world. It would be great if I loved you."

Blue fell to her knees and covered his face since she felt a rain of tears coming from her eyes. Red decided that it would be best to get her time to deal with it, so he sat down.

. . .

Several minutes passed. Blue was using a handkerchief to wipe the drying tears from her face. She started getting up, which didn't go unnoticed by Red who's been observing her during that time. Her two Pokemon, who remained quiet for all that time, walked up to her to give a helping hand in getting her on feet.

"How are you feeling? Red asked.

She was still a little out of it so all she could do was smile. She returned Tori and Bell to their pokeballs before signaling the boy that they should return to the camp grounds. They walked there in silence. They were landed farther from there than they thought, which probably helped them since people couldn't hear their shouts from that distance.

A couple people who recognized Blue walked over to make sure that everything was alright. Everything happened so quickly that they didn't realize where she disappeared to. Some of them tried searching for her but they didn't go far into the forest since it seemed impossible that she would get somewhere far away so quickly. One of them, a nicely dressed boy around their age, looked like he suspected Red of doing something bad to her, but the girl punched the air right in front of her face in order to stop him from starting a fight.

Afterwards, she explained that he's her friend who wanted to help her since she was getting swarmed by a crowd. It looked like a couple of them were ashamed by their previous behavior since they tried avoiding Blue's gaze. Aside from that, there was a pair of people who came over to give Blue their tickets. She estimated by their numbers that one of them would give her a fight fairly soon but the other would be for the next day since the sun would be setting soon. She wanted to give back the first one since she didn't feel ready to have a fight after the roller coaster of emotions she just went through but a voice interrupted her.

"Can I give it a go?" asked Red.

Everyone looked at him with surprised faces. People started whispering between themselves. Since he was Blue's friend, some of them wondered if he was anywhere as good as her at Pokemon battles, while others outright declared him as a waste of a ticket. Ignoring all the talking, Blue walked over and handed him the ticket with a smile.

"Good luck. Although you probably won't be needing it." she said.

"Don't say stuff like that. You'll raise people's expectations too much." he responded.

Even though there was still uneasiness, both of them felt relieved since at that point they felt like they knew each other perfectly. Even though only one of them was in love with the other, the bond they had was something even stronger. The crowd seemed to be getting hints of that since a couple people walked away, angry that they probably didn't have any chances with Blue after noticing how she and Red looked at each other.

. . .

About half an hour later, Red's ticket number was called out and the crowd parted ways to let him through to the front. He stretched his arms and legs as if he was the one that would be doing the fighting instead of his Pokemon. Snorlax arrived after getting some minor treatment after his previous battle, and it looked like he remembered the teenager. The Pokemon stopped as if it wanted to do a double take after which it smiled, feeling that there was something unusual about the trainer in front of it.

"Who should I choose?" the boy wondered while looking at the pokeballs containing Charmander and Pikachu.

Suddenly, a ray of sunlight hit his face. It was slowly going down but it gave him an idea about a simple strategy he could use in this situation. The only problem was that it was a one time trick. If it didn't work, he would most likely lose. Despite of that, he decided to give it a try.

"Alright. I choose you, Oddish!"

The grass Pokemon jumped out of his ball and landed on both feet while smiling cheerfully. He looked at the opponent, who was standing a good couple meters away, and assumed a serious face.

"Huh. It seems like you got a good rest today since you aren't asleep like usual." Red stated, surprised by his Pokemon's behavior "Well, the thing is simple..."

Red didn't get a chance to finish since he noticed that Snorlax was already approaching them, and much faster than one would expect of someone its size.

"Oddish, dodge!"

The grass Pokemon had little time, but it managed to avoid the Body Slam that was about to trap him under the opponent's body. The seconds it took Snorlax to wake up were their chance. Red pointed towards the sun which was going down in the direction of the bridge. Oddish ran over there and stopped right before the stone arch at the same moment his foe managed to stand up. Snorlax started running, unaware of Red's plan.

"Sunny Day!"

Since the sun was already there, instead of creating an artificial one, Oddish focused the light of the real one and used it to blind Snorlax who was already too fast to stop. The enormous Pokemon started to swing its arms in hopes of hitting Oddish by luck, but that was exactly what Red wanted. He knew that none of his Pokemon would be strong enough to beat Snorlax in a fair battle so he employed trickery.

"Grass Knot!"

When Snorlax was close enough, Oddish caused a bunch of grass blades to grow in length and wrap around one of the arms it was swinging. They were strong enough to lift the Pokemon and throw him as if they were an Aikido master. This caused Snorlax's other arm to hit the arch. It was at that point that the grass Pokemon realized his trainer's plan and ran away as quickly as he could.

Snorlax broke one of the columns which collapsed onto its belly when it landed on the bridge. Its weight caused the rest of it to fall in a similar manner. It became trapped under the rubble. It tried to stand up but couldn't. Besides the fact that its arms were under too much weight, it was also afraid of further damaging the bridge it was meant to guard. The group of caretakers gathered around the broken arch, some already calling in help in order to repair the bridge and free Snorlax. The woman whom Red met earlier looked at him with an awfully sour expression. Even though he didn't really defeat Snorlax, he took that as his personal victory.

"Come on, Oddish!"

The grass Pokemon went to its trainer and, after jumping into his arms, the two of them started making their way back through the crowd. The people looked at Red with dumbfounded faces. No one could tell if he was actually a good trainer or just somebody smart who wanted to have some fun. After some time, Red saw Blue who was waiting for him. It somehow seemed like the awkward air of the situation from before vanished. She even offered for him to stay in her tent since she wanted to talk to him about his journey after their parting.

She convinced him by saying that otherwise he would have to walk to the far end of the camping grounds, since there really wasn't any space for him to do one of his makeshift houses near her tent. It would also take too much time, going to the forest to gather materials and all. After accepting her offer, he offered to make some of her favorite food, but she stopped him and decided to show off the abilities she had to acquire in her lone journey. They talked until late into the night and even though Blue suspected that it would feel weird sleeping in the same tent, she somehow had no problem with it.

. . .

Finally, the morning arrived. As was usual during their journeys, Red got up earlier than Blue but he was surprised when the girl woke up only minutes after him. Seeing how well she was handling being independent, he felt relief at the thought of letting her continue on her own path. After eating a breakfast, this time food being prepared by him, he was ready to leave.

"You're going already?" Blue was trying to hide her disappointment.

"That's what you wanted, right?" he said.

Even though he knew that parting ways again would be hard, he wanted to make it as quick as possible, hoping that time would indeed help Blue deal with her problems.

"Yeah, but... Even though I don't want it, I can't deny that I still love you. Having you confirm that you didn't feel the same didn't change anything. It's not weird that I would like to spend more time with you, is it?"

"I suppose not. But you have to make up your mind."

"I will. I mean... I did. While you're travelling back to Vermilion and then who knows where, I'll stay here and focus on trying to take down the guardian. I don't feel like I could get rid of these feelings I have for you, but I think I'm capable of getting myself in the mindset where I'll be able to fight you in the Pokemon League without any hesitation." she said with confidence.

"That is if you make it into the League." Red responded, and the two of them started laughing, thinking about how maybe all of their drama was pointless.

Red was about to start walking away when he turned around to say one last thing.

"Remember that "date" I took you on in Pewter City?"

"Yeah. What about it?"

"Well... When the Pokemon League is over and if you still have feelings for me, granted that I haven't met anyone else, we could try going on a real one. I said it once already... I would love to love you."

He smiled before finally leaving. Blue stood there, watching him walk away until she couldn't see his back any more. From one of the other tents, appeared a girl who was one of the people who gave Blue a ticket the previous day. She looked at her with confusion, since she couldn't tell what the expression on her face meant.

"Hey, Blue. What is it? Are you sad?" the girl asked.

"Am I sad?" Blue repeated "Hmm. Hard to tell."

* * *

Stretches arms. This time it's definitely the last chapter of the year. I just really wanted to finish this storyline. "Finish". We won't be seeing Blue for quite some time and Red finally resolved his part of the problem. Now it's up to her. Will she be able to get over her feelings for Red? Does she need to? You'll see sometime in the future.

I was afraid of writing this chapter ever since I came up with the idea of Blue falling in love with Red since I knew he wouldn't reciprocate her feelings and I wanted to handle it in a way where he didn't seem like an asshole. I was also worried about myself. I like to put romance stuff into things I come up with but somehow females always get the short end of the stick. I have an idea for a space opera, not really based on anything, and after going through my plans for it, I realized that the main character would seem like a jerk to any female reader since he acknowledges that another person loves him, but decides to ignore it, but as soon as that person has another chance at love, he starts getting protective of her. Meanwhile there's like 4-5 other people who are attracted to him.

So I'm grateful that I managed to(hopefully) avoid that stuff with Red. People often like assholish characters but not really that kind.

Aside from that, there were supposed to be more Pokemon battles, but this stuff is already two chapters so I decided to just have the quick one with Snorlax. One thing I wanted to do was have Roger from Team Rocket try to steal Snorlax since he heard it was undefeated and then Red and Blue would protect it. But that would interfere with the flow of the chapter so I left it out. To any Roger fans out there, don't worry, I still have plans for him.

The title is taken from the Harry Akst and Grant Clarke song which I know thanks to that pig episode of Justice League Unlimited. That version still feels the best to me, but there's a couple other good ones.

The next chapter will be kind of a filler, in the sense that it won't contribute to the main story, but it could lead to something waaay further down the line. I've also been wondering if I should do a Green centric chapter. I have some kind of idea but unless someone explicitly asks for it, I won't bother, since chapter 20(or 21, depends on how it goes) will be the end of what I would call the first arc, so I want to get to it as soon as possible. Let me know what you think.

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmander, Raichu, Oddish, Magikarp.

Badges: 3

Green. Team: Ivysaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, ?.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Bellsprout(Bell), Wartortle(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: ?, ?.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.


	25. 19: Red-handed

Recommended Music: Not really thematically related to the chapter but Padorulovania. Best Christmas song ever.

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 19: Red-handed.

"Hey, waiter! Bring more beer!" a male voice called out in the corner of a small restaurant.

The worker of the establishment arrived as quick as he could, visibly worried.

"I'm sorry, Sir." he said while bowing slightly "The owner said that we can't give out any more free drinks for you and your companions. Please, understand that we're a business and we have to make money."

"And how much money do you think you'll make if people learn that you've had the hero of Vermilion City as your guest, huh?!" he answered while angrily throwing a glass, yet making sure that it didn't hit the waiter.

"I... I'll try to convince him, Sir." the man said before leaving towards the kitchen door.

"We should just ditch this place and go hang on your yacht." said a woman, one of four who were sitting at the same booth as the owner of the voice.

She grabbed onto his arm and brought it closer to her body, hoping that the feeling of her breasts on his shoulder would convince him.

"Chill out. We'll do that after I show those buffoons that no one should talk that way to the great Red." he said while trying to hide his excitement, before turning around to a ledge behind him "Isn't that right, Pikachu?"

The yellow Pokemon sat with his back towards them and didn't care to answer. Instead, he threw fishbones leftover from the meal it just finished into the face of one of the girls.

. . .

Meanwhile, in another part of town, Red was stretching his arms and legs while thinking how he looks forward to sleeping in a bed and eating some of the fish Vermilion is known for. Especially since it took him about 2 weeks to catch up with Blue, turn back and return to the city.

"Jon and Fille probably already left, but maybe I'll meet up with Michael or Lt. Surge." he said to himself while looking at one of the stands selling fresh fish.

"Oh! Mr. Red! It's good to see you again!" he heard someone speak to him.

The teenager looked up and saw that the voice belonged to the owner of the stand who until a moment ago was busy with counting the payment from a customer who just left. At first Red's intuition told him that the man was probably one of many people who heard about him thanks to Lt. Surge's appearance on television, but somehow the wording caught his attention so he decided to check this hunch.

"Have we met before?" he asked.

The stand owner blinked quickly several times in surprise. He leaned over to get a better look at the boy who stood there, feeling a little uncomfortable about being eyed up.

"I mean... Your clothes are different. And you look shorter. It's like... everything is a little bit off. But at the same time..." the man seemed to grow more confused with each glance he took at the boy.

"Do you mean you've seen someone who looks like me?" the trainer wanted to clear things up as fast as possible.

"Yeah. But even his hair and the tone of his skin differed a little. But..." he stopped to get another look at Red's face "At first, and even second, glance, he looked just like the photo they showed on the news. But now that I've seen you, it seems like the one I've met before must have been a fake. Damn it!"

"Did he do something?" the teenager asked.

"You betcha! He's a goddamn con artist! I thought it would be a good deal if I gave some of my best fish for free to him. Since he... you... are famous, I thought that he could mention how good my fish stand is on some morning show. But it seems like I was tricked! Unless..."

"Unless?"

"Unless you're also a fake!" the man yelled while pointing a finger in the boy's direction, his voice attracting attention from several passerby.

"I... Let's not get ahead of ourselv..."

"I'm calling the police! They'll sort it out!" the man declared while reaching for the phone in his pocket.

Red instinctively thrusted his hand forward, knocking the device out of the stand owner's hand, and making it fall on the ground where it broke. The man didn't understand what happened at first. Red also was shocked by what he just did. But when he noticed the other person getting angrier, he felt like there was no more room for explanation. He spun around on one feet and started running towards the centre of the city. He could hear the stand owner shouting things at him for but since the voice was steadily getting quieter, that meant that at least he didn't follow him. But he would probably call the police as soon as he would find another phone.

"I need to find that impostor and clear my name." he stated his goal, as if to reassure himself,

"Hey, you! Where's the money I lent you?!" another person shouted at him from across the street but he decided to ignore them and keep running.

"And I better do it fast."

. . .

Sometime later, the other Red was waiting on a bench in the middle of a park, looking impatiently at his watch, while smoking a cigarette. Most of the woman accompanying him got bored and started leaving. The last one was enjoying the free ice cream he arranged for but was also getting tired of waiting.

"Where the hell is that guy? He was supposed to be here already." he said angrily while grinding his teeth.

He looked around and finally his mood seemed to start getting better. The one he was waiting for was a boy, about 10 years old. He was carrying a bag while looking around as if to check that he wasn't being followed. He arrived next to the bench and was completely out of breath so the impostor Red gave him a couple seconds to rest before getting down to business.

"Do you have what I want?"

The boy looked down at the bag which he was holding close to his body. He didn't look too sure but, despite that, he nodded before reaching inside. He took a few more glances and after ascertaining that there wasn't anyone who could see what they were doing, he handed over a jar of colorful pills. The man took it and analyzed it up-close. They looked like the real deal but he couldn't be completely sure.

He reached towards the woman and swiftly dragged her over by her hand in order to shove one of the pills in her mouth. She was so surprised that she accidentally swallowed it, even though she didn't plan to. She looked worried but was too confused by what just happened and how Red was staring at her. When nothing happened for about a minute, the man turned to the boy looking more angry than disappointed.

"What is this?" he said while holding up the jar "Are you making fun of me? Are you going back on our deal?"

"No!" the boy yelled, attracting some unwanted stares.

The man shushed him before speaking again "Then what the hell is this shit about? You promised to bring me those drugs your uncle was developing in exchange for me kicking his ass and getting you out of that shithole forever. If you can't keep your promise..."

"No! Look!" the boy pointed at the woman who started behaving weirdly.

It looked like she had trouble standing straight. Her head was moving from side to side, her face was getting paler by the second and her mouth was producing an unusual amount of saliva.

"What is this shit?! She looks like she's about to collapse! I wanted something that would make the girls easier to use but thi..." he stopped after noticing that all of the people in the park were looking at him, either with disgust, or, those that were too far away to hear him, with annoyance.

"What is going on here?" asked a police patrolman who just arrived.

He was making motions with his rubber baton that suggested that he was willing to use it if necessary.

"Did you call the cops on me?!" the impostor shouted while lifting the boy up by his shirt.

"No! I swear!" the child started tearing up.

"Let him go this instant!" the policeman commanded while quickly stepping forward while raising the baton.

Before he could swing it, he felt something hit his hand. The pain was enough to drop the weapon. He grabbed the hurt spot and cried out in pain. He was quickly quietened when his throat was also hit. It made it so hard to breathe that while trying to deal with it, he fell on his knees. From behind the bench appeared a Pokemon resembling a Pikachu. It was hard to tell from a distance but the boy who was closer could tell that it was some other thing dressed like the electric mouse. It sat on top of the backrest while looking mighty satisfied with its show of power, using one of its paws to hold up two shining objects.

"Good job, partner!" the fake Red said while looking away from the boy long enough for the latter to bite the hand of the former.

The con man dropped the child who started running towards the closest exit of the park. The criminal's Pokemon looked at the man with a condescending look but it got up and ran after the boy after receiving an angry stare from the man. Suddenly, something tall blocked its way. It looked up to see a tall person whose face was shadowed because of the position of the sun.

Right after that, it noticed the boy hiding behind this person. It reached toward him but before it could do anything, an electric attack came at it from the side. It was pushed back a couple meters but quickly got up. Unfortunately, the Thunder, which came from a Raichu, was enough to destroy the fake Pikachu ears and to wipe away some of the paint, revealing a Meowth in disguise.

"Oh no." the fake Red said after realizing that the one the boy was hiding behind was none other than Lt. Surge.

Meowth slowly backed away towards his partner.

"So you're that impostor I've heard about from the cops." stated the Gym leader.

"Wha-? Nooo. It's me, Red. Don't you recogni..."

"Stop fooling around!"

Lt. Surge looked furious when he approached the con man.

"I don't know what you did to fool the other people, but I'm not falling for your tricks. I know Red and from what I see, you are nothing alike. Not only your looks, but your behavior. You make me sick."

"Speaking of sick..." the criminal said with a smile while glancing at the policeman who was trying to restart his breathing with punches to the chest, and the woman who looked like she was about to pass out from her body convulsing "...You shouldn't waste time with me."

That wasn't enough to distract the former soldier, but he decided that it was better to let the criminal run away and take care of the people around, including the boy. He called over some bystanders to help him while he himself went on to call the Police Chief and inform him that the fake Red was more dangerous than they suspected. At that time, he didn't realize that he was also inconveniencing the real one.

. . .

"There he is!" a policeman yelled to a group of his co-workers after spotting Red trying to sneak into an alleyway.

"Oh no." was the only thing boy could utter before starting to run away from the group of 6 police officers following him.

He took out Eevee from his pokeball and placed him backwards over his arm.

"Use Swift!" he ordered the Pokemon "But not directly!"

The dog listened and started shooting stars, but instead of aiming at the people following them, he used the attack knock over trash cans and to drop down clothes lines from above. This was enough of a distraction to allow Red to go unnoticed through the doors of some cheap restaurant. He wanted to wait out the pursuing party but he was immediately noticed by the kitchen staff who immediately assumed that he was someone up to no good.

"Hey! Who are you?!" yelled one of them.

"Oh boy." Red yelled while trying to escape to the front of the restaurant.

Unfortunately, a large cook blocked his way and tried to grab. Eevee jumped up and headbutted the man in the chest, giving Red enough time to grab over the counter and grab two knives. The dog followed but was grabbed by the tail by one of the restaurant stuff. He was quickly dropped when his trainer threw one of the knives dangerously close to the hand holding the Pokemon. At the moment they were about to exit through the front door, another policeman entered the establishment after hearing the ruckus. He was reaching for his baton when the boy made a couple quick moves with the knife in order to cause the officers pants to drop to the floor. The man was too busy trying to cover his shame to follow the escaping duo.

"We have to find someone to convince the police that I'm not a bad guy." the boy stated while running throughout the city "The port is closer than the Gym. I just have to hope that Michael isn't on another cruise."

. . .

Not too far away, the impostor Red was hidden in the bushes, watching and listening to his surroundings, hoping to get some clues as to how to deal with the situation he found himself in. It was at that time he overheard a couple police officers talking about how the entrances to the city were guarded by a bunch of their co-workers. For a moment it seemed like all of the escape routes were cut off and he would have to wait out until everyone would forget about the whole case. But thinking back on how Lt. Surge reacted, it wasn't easy to imagine that someone like that would ever give up.

"Damn it. It's not like I can just fly awaaaa... That's it!" while saying the last words, he stood up in excitement which accidentally made his hiding place known to the nearby police officers.

He immediately ran away.

. . .

"Alright. We're in the port." Red announced while stretching his arms and looking out to the sea.

Eevee did a similar things with all of its legs.

"Now what?" the boy was talking more to himself than to his Pokemon "We're still a little far away so I can't see if St. Anne is here. Wouldn't they have to do some repairs after everything that happened there? I'm not even sure that it was the only ship Michael worked on... I really should get a cellphone."

"Um... I don't want to be rude but could you move a bit?" a soft voice spoke up from behind him.

He turned around and saw a girl sitting on a low wall, looking at him with kind of a blank stare. She looked younger than him. Her blonde hair was tied up into two ponytails hanging around the front of her neck. She wore a white shirt and grey overalls. One of the straps was hanging down but the weirder thing was that she had spots of green and pink paint all over her clothes, skin and hair. It seemed like the reason she wanted him to move was that she was drawing the view of the sea in her notebook and he stood in her way.

"Sorry." he said before immediately moving a couple steps to the side.

"Nothing to be sorry about. It seemed like you were lost in your thoughts." she said while gesturing for him to sit next to her "I also do that a lot. In fact, I was late for my ship because I got so occupied with my art."

"Can I take a look?" he asked after sitting down.

"Sure." she answered while showing him the almost finished drawing.

"Wow. That's really good."

"Thank you. Oh! I haven't introduced myself. I'm Mina. Alola."

"Mina Alola?"

"Uuh... The second word is a thing we say instead of a greeting in the region I come from." she explained.

"What region is that?"

"Alola."

"...Doesn't that get confusing?"

"Only slightly."

"I'm Red by the way."

She looked like she was about to start laughing "Doesn't that get confusing?"

"Less than you would expect."

The girl looked down toward Eevee who was hugging his trainer's leg and smiled slightly before turning the pages of her notebook.

"Would you be against it if I tried to draw your Eevee?" she asked.

"Of course not. But let's see how Eevee feels about it."

"Out of the way!" someone yelled right before jumping through the small gap between the two teenagers, causing both of them shock that almost made them fall from the wall.

The person looked weirdly familiar. They were looking around in a frenzy, yelling about how they needed to find a boat. After taking a couple seconds to look at their clothes and the thing grabbing onto their shoulder, Red realized that it must have been the person trying to pose as him.

"Hey, Red! Can I get an autograph?" the real one said while standing up.

"I don't have time for that bullsh..." the impostor froze up after looking behind himself and seeing who the voice belonged to.

"I insist." behind a pretense of innocence, Red voice hid an anger that has been accumulating in him for the last couple hours.

"So you've returned. Is that why the police are searching for me? Well... It doesn't matter."

"How'd you even fool anyone? Besides the clothes, you don't even look anything like me."

"Hahaha! I'm the great Professor Zofiira! I designed a chemical compound that can be used as a perfume that increases the power of suggestion a hundredfold. Of course it's weaker on people who..."

"Quick Attack." Red didn't feel the need to listen anymore.

The scientist didn't have any time to react. The attack from Eevee sent him flying off the docks and into the sea. However, Meowth managed to jump off Zofiira's arms and land right behind the dog Pokemon. It used Scratch, but Eevee was too fast an easily avoided it before tripping up the opponent. After gaining some distance, the normal Pokemon stopped because it seemed to recognize the cat. Red thought about it for a short while before reaching a conclusion.

"You are the Meowth that fought over food with my Oddish, aren't you?"

The cat looked worried, as if it just in that moment realized that Red had more than one Pokemon he could use in a fight. Meowth started frantically looking around in order to find his partner but he couldn't see him anywhere.

"Eevee, Swift and then Quick Attack!"

Meowth was panicking and trying to block the attacks by using Pay Day which caused the coin on its head to create multiple copies which shot out towards Eevee, but even though it managed to stop the first attack, the dog was quick enough to slip between it all and deliver a powerful blow.

Not giving the opponent a chance to rest, Red gave his next command "Finish him with Superstar!"

The attack was enough to cause Meowth to faint. Red was afraid that he would fall into the sea, but fortunately his unconscious body stopped flying after hitting a bollard. The teenager quickly looked around and realized that Zofiira still didn't come out of the water. He ran up to the sea to check if he didn't accidentally cause him to drown but there was no one there. It was a few seconds later that he heard the roar of an engine.

He turned to the side and saw the con man aboard a nearby boat. He already managed to turn it on and was quickly trying to untie the rope connecting it to a dock. When he realized that the boy saw him, he started to panic which gave Red some time to run in that direction. The rope was untied and the small boat began moving but the trainer already jumped on. Without receiving an order, Eevee remained next to Mina. Even though he knew that Red had other Pokemon with him in case he needed help, he was still worried and the girl seemed to feel it. She put away her notebook and kneeled down to pet him.

"Don't worry. I'll help." she said before going closer to the sea and taking out a pokeball "Let's paint this town red, Ninetales!"

Eevee step backed in awe of the white, nine-tailed monster whose arrival instantly lowered the temperature around them.

"Use Blizzard on the water around the boat!"

The fox immediately released a wave of blue fog which surrounded the boat, which still didn't reach too high a speed, causing the sea around it to instantly turn to ice. Since Red and the impostor were struggling for control of the vehicle at that very moment, neither of them had time to grab onto something when they came to a sudden stop. But the boy was clever enough to use the motion of them both falling down to increase the power of his fist which travelled straight to the con man's face, knocking him out and breaking his nose.

After falling down himself, the teenager took a short while to catch his breath before wiping away the blood that got on his fist. After that, he stood up and approached the side of the boat to give Mina and Eevee a thumbs up in order to signal that the battle has been won. However, his happiness didn't last long. After getting out of the boat and trying to carefully use the ice to get back to land, while dragging the unconscious criminal behind him, Red saw the same group of police officers that chased him earlier, waiting nearby, with their batons already in hands.

He didn't look forward to getting hit but he was tired and knew it would be hard to run away so he closed his eyes in preparation. But when nothing happened, he opened them back again and saw that Mina used Ninetales' ice to stitch the officers' shoes to the ground. Red kept his distance and used the time given to him by the girl to explain the situation. Everything cleared up when he had one of them call Lt. Surge who supported the boy's case.

. . .

"Thanks for helping me out there. It was surprising to learn that there's something like an icy version of Ninetales." said Red, right after handing Mina a waffle he bought her as a show of gratitude.

She took a bite out of it before he even let go of it, after which she licked off the leftover strawberry jelly from her lips before replying "No problem. It's always great to see someone as passionate as you. It gives me more energy to focus on my art. Which by the way..."

"Yeah?"

"I will have to stay here for a couple days before the ship from Alola returns. I saw that you have multiple pokeballs attached to your belt. If it's not too much trouble, I would want to more drawings of your Pokemon." she said with a hopeful look in her eyes.

"No problem. Until not too long ago, I would probably have to refuse but I've just had a huge weight taken off my shoulders so I have no problem with just chilling her for some time."

"Then tomorrow I'll be the one treating you to waffles."

"That's a promise." he responded while smiling.

. . .

"Where is it?! Damn it! That little rat must have stolen it!"

A man in his forties was frantically searching for something in his small, dirty, apartment, full of various books, chemicals and apparatus. He was about to give up and sit down on an armchair when he heard the front door opening. He ran over there as quickly as he could, nearly tripping several times. When he turned the corner to the hallway, he saw his nephew, the same boy who brought Zofiira the jar of drugs.

The man was relieved for a fraction of a second it took him to realize that the boy didn't have his bag or any other thing inside which he could have been holding the jar, which must have meant he somehow lost possession of it. His face went red and he approached the nephew, readying his arm to slap the boy. His swinging motion was instantly stopped by a strong grab of another hand.

The man, who was until that time looking down at the boy, raised his eyes and saw the smile on the face of Lt. Surge who for the previous couple seconds hid outside the apartment. The drug maker wasn't in his clear mind so he didn't realize the clear difference in strength and tried punching the leader. Lt. Surge allowed the punch to reach his head. But when his opponent saw that it didn't do any damage, he immediately knew that it was his end. The leader released him from his grasp before headbutting him hard enough to make him faint.

The boy looked at the trainer with admiration, but the latter didn't look too excited about his deed. He was more concerned with the fact that the boy would probably have to go to an orphanage, and also with the thought that the city was probably full of people like the man he just defeated. Being a Gym leader meant he was free to act in such situations but it seemed like that much too often people were afraid of speaking about their troubles to the police.

"Hmm. I never really wondered who is the mayor of this city. But if I'm to stop stuff like this from happening, he's probably the first person I should talk to." he said to himself, ignoring the police officers who just arrived to arrest the atrocious uncle.

* * *

Hello. It's me. Still tired after eating too much on Christmas, but looking towards what the next year brings. I got some new shoes and chocolates but mostly money. I already spent it all on like 17 manga volumes. But anyway, let us talk about the chapter.

I had an idea for a chapter about a Red impostor for quite some time. At first I thought it would take place somewhere after the League, since Red needed to be recognizable enough for it to work. But then the whole St. Anne thing happened so I decided to place it here. It probably would work out better as a special chapter. Then Zofiira could be made into a more intimidating villain. I also wanted to have more antics with Red avoiding the police but then I thought about using Mina and I saw instantly that the chapter was going to be longer than I expected so I decided to go easy on other parts. The thing with the boy who has a drug making uncle was kinda unexpected. I just needed Zofiira to be caught red-handed(Hence the name of the chapter, double pun on him being a Red impostor). Other dumb jokes are the fact that Zofiira means "red" in Chewa language and the catchphrase I gave Mina. I wanted something painting related but the only things that sounded cool were the one I used and "paint it black" so I went with the one that fit the theme.

This was a one time only appeareance for her, just an easter egg. Those who know why she's here will probably go like "Huh. That's neat." while the ones who don't will go "Huh. Okay, I guess." I would add that she's my favorite Trial Captains. I judge Pokemon characters mostly on how hot/cute they are, and in that case, all of the Trial Captains besides Sophocles are great, but Mina also has the most pleasant personality. She's just kinda cool without putting much effort into it.

Anyway, this time it's definitely the last chapter of the year. Let's hope that I keep up my pace in the next year, which could be hard if I finally get a job. The next chapter or two is the first arc finale. What that means? Red faces his strongest opponent yet. So, until then.

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmander, Raichu, Oddish, Magikarp.

Badges: 3

Green. Team: Ivysaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, ?.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Bellsprout(Bell), Wartortle(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: ?, ?.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.


	26. 20: Search

Recommended Music: Nothing. Sometimes there isn't anything. In the future, if I don't have anything on mind, I just won't do this part. On the other hand, if one of you guys has some good music to listen to get yourself into a writing mood then let me know.

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 20: Search.

"Miss Angie!"

The only female amongst Team Rocket admins was taking one of her scheduled breaks which were the only times during which she forced herself to stop thinking about the matters concerning the organization. She didn't do it in order to have a time to herself, but because it was necessary to replenish her energy with food and water. Those 15 minutes of calm were also helpful in clearing her head, which could allow her to get some new ideas.

The base she were currently in was far enough in the mountains for it to be built without caring about keeping secret whom it belonged to. That also meant that it was the only one which could have wide balconies with a view of a beautiful lake. The other Team Rocket members knew that Angie preferred to eat alone so even though the balcony she was on had several tables, there was no one there besides her.

It's been almost a month since Peter found Mewtwo and allowed him to escape. Angie spent all that time trying to find some clue about its whereabouts but her search didn't bear any fruit. That annoyed her to no end since she felt like she was wasting time and resources that could be used in a better way, but if she gave up after so long she would feel even worse.

The person calling her name was one of her immediate subordinates, a girl slightly younger than her. Angie spun around on her rotating chair after putting down the fork with a piece of tomato still impaled on it. She looked at her underling but seeing that the girl was standing in the door with her head lowered, Angie understood that she was probably trying to catch her breath. When the other girl was finally ready to lift her head and speak, she was surprised to see the admin handing her a glass of water.

The girl glanced at the table to confirm her suspicion that it was the only glass and by gauging the amount of water in it and in the bottle from which it came, she understood that Angie must have already drank from this glass. Her first instinct was to refuse, since she like many others admired the admin too much to ever try to feel like someone in any way equal to her, but after looking at Angie's face, she realized that the few seconds of hesitation were already considered a waste of time. She took a quick sip before putting the glass on the windowsill behind her.

"What is it?" the admin asked.

"One of my subordinates has located M2." she answered while lowering her gaze in order not to disappoint her boss any more.

To her surprise there was no response. Even though she knew it to be foolish, she allowed temptation to get the better of her and took a peek at Angie's face. Her mistake was bigger than she thought. The thing she saw was not only unexpected, but also something that she would have preferred to have never seen. It was the first time in all her time working under Angie that she saw the admin with a smile. The reason she regretted seeing that wasn't something as stupid as her seeing it somehow causing Angie's cold image to be destroyed. No. That smile seemed so unnatural that the only thing she could feel at that moment was pure fear.

. . .

In a park somewhere in Cerulean City, Red was carefully following the movements of a Dratini belonging to the trainer he was currently battling against. Although Eevee's specialty was his speed, the dragon's body allowed him to move in such way that even when it wasn't fast enough it could still avoid long-range attacks. Running after it was also pointless since it was able to travel by air, even though it looked more like swimming than flying. The only option left to them was to wait. This cemented Red's belief that Eevee was the best choice for this battle. Aside from having no type disadvantage, he and Oddish were the only ones of whom the boy would expect to remain patient for an extended amount of time. The opponent tried to have his Pokemon use Dragon Rage a couple times, but each one was easily avoided by Eevee. They were already at a point where he looked frustrated by this stalemate. That's when he came up with a quick strategy.

"Another Dragon Rage!"

The Pokemon listened and shot out a stream of blue, fiery balls in Eevee's direction. The dog did a quick jump to avoid the attack, giving the trainer a chance to issue another order.

"Slam!"

"Bite!" Red shouted even before the other one had a chance to finish his command.

The opponent blinked, unsure of what just happened but a second later everything became clear. When Dratini approached Eevee to attack him, the dog was already prepared to sink its teeth into the dragon's body.

"You must escape!" the boy yelled to his Pokemon, but his order proved useless, since it was clear that Red's partner had too much strength in his jaw to allow the foe to escape.

He was about ready to give up, but at that moment he realized that Eevee bit into the middle of Dratini's body, leaving the end of its tail free. That meant that they still had one move in their arsenal.

"Use Twister!"

Red wasn't prepared for such a development, already being sure of his victory, so he didn't immediately knew how to react. Dratini had a short while to spin its tail, creating a strong wind which transformed into a miniature tornado. The opponent hoped that the wind would help by knocking Eevee over and causing him to release the dragon. Unfortunately for him, it wasn't strong enough. That is why he decided that they should increase its power.

"Even more!"

Even if Red wanted to do something, most of Eevee's attack would be useless if his opponent was in his mouth, even if the wind didn't make it easier to keep it in there. Dratini kept rotating its tail, causing the tornado to grow in size. Soon it was big enough to lift up both of the Pokemon into air.

"It's over! Tell your Eevee to let go!" Dratini's trainer shouted louder than before, realizing that the sound of rippling air was making it hard to hear him.

Red didn't respond. He was still considering his possibilities, even while looking at his Eevee spinning a couple meters above the ground. He could certainly tell him to let go, but that would mean he would have to be sure that there wasn't a way for Dratini to escape without removing Twister. Otherwise, it would mean that Eevee would remain trapped in there and they would be the ones that would have to give up. And even if the tornado would disappear, there was the case of having Eevee land on the ground without receiving any damage, while also making sure that Dratini wouldn't recover before him. All these factors were making it hard to decide the best course of action. As it turned out, he didn't have to, since right at time, somebody did it for him.

"Stop this immediately!" shouted a familiar voice.

It was loud enough to get through the wind and to the Pokemon, and authoritative enough to cause them to abandon their previous orders. Eevee let go of Dratini and at the same moment, the dragon stopped spinning its tail, causing the tornado explode, sending strong gusts of wind in all directions. While Dratini quickly regained balance and flew down towards the ground, Red was momentarily worried about Eevee. That is until he saw a Staryu come flying through the air, catching the dog, before making a turn and landing right next to its trainer, the Cerulean City Gym leader, Misty. She was wearing white sneakers, navy tights and buttoned up denim jacket. The girl returned her Pokemon to its pokeball before kneeling down to pet Eevee. Red had to take a second to understand what just happened before walking up to her.

"Hi." he said.

"Don't "hi" me." she said in an annoyed voice "The next time you decide to have a Pokemon battle, either do it somewhere else or make sure not to scare people with a tornado."

After saying that, she pointed over to a couple people standing a distance away and looking at them with irritation.

"But I wasn't..."

"Doesn't matter!" she didn't give him a chance to defend himself "You should know better than that, Red."

He wanted to say another thing but stopped himself when he realized that she just said his name.

"You remember me?" he said while pointing a finger at his own face.

"Yeah. I mean... There isn't that many trainers who use an Eevee. There's also all the other stuff I learned about you from Brock and Lt. Surge. It seems like you're trying to take on all the criminal organizations in Kanto one by one." she explained.

"Not really. It just feels like trouble always finds me." he said while bending down to also pat his Pokemon before returning him to his pokeball.

"Yeeeah... Wanna grab something to eat? It's my free day so I went for a walk but I still didn't have lunch." she asked while pointing backwards, towards the entrance to the park, with her thumb.

The boy nodded and proceeded to pick up his backpack from the ground before going with the girl. His opponent stood there, trying to hide how sad he was about being ignored by both of them, while his Dratini was rubbing against his leg in order to cheer him up.

. . .

"What?! How could you do that to her?!" Misty yelled while standing up and almost knocking over her glass of juice.

After seeing that some of the people in the restaurant were staring at her, she immediately sat down.

"Didn't you listen to anything I was saying?" Red asked, while pointing at her with a knife dirtied by food.

"It just seems you don't understand women at all!" she raised her voice yet again.

That was enough to attract the attention of one of the waiters, who came up to their table and after looking at their emptied plates, asked them in a cold voice "Will that be all?"

Red grabbed his forehead in embarrassment, since the man's tone suggested that it took all the tact he had not to kick them out and to ask politely instead. Misty looked like she was about to order something again, not realizing the situation, but the boy didn't want to go through any more shame.

"No. That'd be all." he said as quickly as possible.

The waiter bowed before taking away the plates. He sighed with relief on his way back to the kitchen. Misty looked a little disappointed by not having a dessert, and it made Red feel bad enough that he offered to buy her something sweet from a sweet vendor. In little to no time, they left the restaurant and were walking through the streets of Cerulean.

"The thing you should have done..."

"I...!" Red already grew tired of that topic "Look... I know you mean well, but it's already done. I know that Blue can deal with it. I said and did whatever I thought was best at the time and I hope it will all work out somehow. Getting advice about this... It's not like suddenly some other girl is going to fall for me."

He stopped and looked at her while taking a stop bad, his face showing that he was a little suspicious.

"What? Me? No way." she responded after understanding what that look meant "I don't have anything against you but since I'm a Gym leader, I limit myself to dating people who live in Cerulean... Even if most of the guys seem to be intimidated by me..."

"Alright. So, where do you want to go? I've only been here for one night the last time so I don't know my way around."

"Let me think. There's this really good..." when pondering about where to go for dessert, Misty's eyes wandered after seeing a person she recognized "Is that...? Come on. Let's go!"

She grabbed Red's arm and pulled him towards a side alley leading to an older part of the city. She let go after he started following her willingly.

"What is it?"

"I think I saw a friend. Oh, there he is." she said after looking around "Heeey, Biiill!"

The person turned around and it was in fact the young scientist responsible for inventing the Pokemon Storage System. He was wearing a long, grey coat, beige trousers and rain boots. It seemed like he wasn't alone since a pair of children, each about 8 years old, hid behind him after seeing the trainers. Bill let the kids know that everything was okay in the time it took the other two to walk up to them.

"Hey, Misty. And you are..."

"I'm Red."

"Curious."

Red didn't seem to understand that remark "W... What are you curious about?"

"Oh. No, no. I mean that's it interesting that you're the second person I met this year who is named after a color." the scientist explained.

"So you probably met Green or Blue." responded Red.

"I... Do... Are you like a band? Or some secret agents?"

"Why would you ask that?" Red wondered while tilting his head to the side.

"Ah... Don't worry. But anyway, I don't have a lot of time to talk so unless it's something important I can't stay too long."

"I was just wondering what you're doing in this part of the city, especially since you rarely visit Cerulean." said Misty.

Bill looked at the kids accompanying him before signaling the pair of trainers to come closer so that they could hear his whisper.

"I'm on a secret mission. These two walked all the way to my house to ask me for help since they think they discovered a new Pokemon species."

"A new Pok...!" both of them were about to yell out what they just learned due to being shocked but Bill quickly blocked both of their mouths with his hands.

The few people travelling through the alley looked in their direction but quickly returned to whatever they were doing.

"Don't you understand that I'm whispering for a reason?" he asked, visibly annoyed.

Red raised his hand, signaling that he wanted to say something, since his mouth was still covered. Bill hesitated for a second but let go of both of them.

"What is it?" the scientist asked.

"Can we come with you?" Red spoke quietly, but was clearly very excited.

"I'm not sure. I'll probably already have to share the honors with the young ones. But if I take you with me..."

"If you don't take us, we'll just follow you." stated Misty.

"I..."

"Like ninjas." added Red.

Bill let out an exasperated sigh.

"Alright. You can come."

. . .

They were walking for about 20 minutes. As they travelled further into the old part of the city, the alleys grew tighter while the buildings looked worse. Some were already in complete ruin which made Red wonder if there was no historical value there, since it didn't seem like anyone ever attempted to restore them.

"Are we close?" Bill asked the kids who suddenly stopped.

They looked around and at each other. They nodded to themselves before turning to Bill.

"I... I'm not sure. We think it's somewhere around here. All these buildings look the same." said one of them.

"Should we split and search for it?" suggested Misty.

"No! Don't split!" one of them cried out while hugging the Gym leaders legs.

The girl pulled the child away before kneeling down to speak with it face to face.

"What's going on?"

"We... We think it's dangerous. It's weird. Different from any Pokemon we ever saw." explained the young one.

"How about one of us stays here with the children to protect them in case it shows up while the rest go search for it." said Red.

"I'll do it." announced Misty "I care more about the wellbeing of these kids than about finding this thing. But I still think you and Bill should go together. He's not a Pokemon trainer after all."

"That's not true." the scientist stated "I have a bunch of Pokemon. That still makes me a Pokemon trainer. I'm just not a... Pokemon battler."

"Did you come up with that one yourself?" she asked sarcastically.

"Let's go." Bill said while quickly turning around to hide the blush he got after being ridiculed by the leader.

Red followed the scientist. Both of them started slowly searching through the buildings. When at first they didn't find anything, Bill started to look worried. He considered that the Pokemon may have left the area. He looked at his watch and at the sky. They had only about 3 hours until the sunset. The old city was a labyrinth during the day. He didn't want to have to look for a way out after it would get dark. After some time, they found a big church, with a lot of its windows broken, and with a hole in one of the walls. The main doors wouldn't budge so they carefully got inside through the opening. As he helped Bill land safely on the floor, and not slip onto shattered glass, Red decided to ask him a question that was bugging him.

"Since you said you don't do Pokemon battles, what was your plan if this thing attacked you or the kids?"

"This." he said while taking out a device similar to a pokeball, but more unrefined and full of edges and wires "It's based around the same principle as my Pokemon Storage System. I'm doing research into creating a machine that will allow people to teleport over long distances and this is something I came up with by accident. It can be quickly activated and if I do that, it will make the surrounding space a kind of pocket dimension which could trap anything or anyone inside of it. But I have to be careful..."

"Why is that?"

"If the device is destroyed, the pocket dimension still remains. And it's still a prototype, so if I used it here we would become trapped in this church. If the device got destroyed somehow after doing that, we would have to stay here forever."

"There's nothing that could break the "barrier" or whatever you wanna call it?" Red was a little worried after hearing how dangerous that small thing was.

"Not that I know of."

"Why?"

"What do you mean "why"? Do you want me to explain how..."

"I didn't say that." Red stopped him.

Bill looked at him with confusion "Well... If you didn't then who di..."

"Why won't you leave me alone? Everywhere I go, you humans must follow me."

It was only after hearing those words that they realized they weren't spoken but somehow appeared in their heads. They immediately looked around, and after turning towards the ceiling, they saw someone, or something, sitting on one of the wooden beams. Mewtwo rubbed its eyes, probably meaning that it was asleep until they arrived in the church. After that, it jumped off and landed at the altar, knocking over a statue of some god. Both of the people remained too shocked to say anything after witnessing the artificial Pokemon. Meanwhile, it looked at them and after understanding that they didn't seem to be members of Team Rocket, it felt the need to give them a chance.

"Leave."

* * *

Sorry. I started writing this on like the 30th but then a lot of stuff piled up. I had a dentist appointment but my toothache got so unbearable that I couldn't sleep for 2 days. I couldn't write anything during that time, and then I felt like I was hungover for the next couple days. (I also took some time to finish Daredevil). I was sure that I would be able to finish this arc in the first week of the year but I only finished about half of it and decided that I'll put that out for now, finishing on a cliffhanger. I can't reveal too much of what the plans for this chapter were originally like without spoiling the next one, but Misty and Bill were always in it, while the Dratini fight is a new thing.

I'll try to release the next chapter soon. My tooth doesn't hurt anymore so there shouldn't be anything to interrupt me. I also made sure not to begin too many anime series in this new season. I still have ongoing stuff like Jojo and Pokemon. The only things I added are Dororo and the Shield Hero. Especially Dororo got me with that dope opening.

That's all. Leave a comment if you have any prediction how Red and Bill are going to deal with what they just got themselves into.

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmander, Raichu, Oddish, Magikarp.

Badges: 3

Green. Team: Ivysaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, ?.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Bellsprout(Bell), Wartortle(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: ?, ?.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.


	27. 21: Destroy

Recommended Music: Kaze ni Nare from Jam Project. Since they're the only band from which I can sing at least lik 10 songs, you'll probably see more from them here later.

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 21: Destroy.

"Leave."

Even if they wanted to follow the order given to them by Mewtwo, both Red and Bill were still too shocked by what they just saw and heard to move even an inch. The Pokemon in front of them decided to sit down, allowing one of its legs to dangle off the altar while lifting the other up so that it could use it to prop up the hand on which it leaned its head. The fact that they were unable to even speak a word in its presence gave Mewtwo some weird sense of confidence. A feeling that it was better than them. As soon as it realized what that was, it touched its forehead with its free hand, in order to help it focus and to get rid of that emotion, which was one of the many things it disliked about humans. It was similar to the sense of pride it learned much about during its time with Articuno, but tainted by negativity. Any such feeling could quickly lead to anger, which could cause it to unleash its powers.

Since Team Rocket wasn't able to find it for so long, it started pondering how they knew about his stay at Seafoam Islands, and it deduced that they must have somehow been able to track its psychic force. That's why it chose the old part of town to stay in. There were no Pokemon there and most people avoided it, so it knew it wouldn't get into any fights.

"Is it possible..." Bill's voice broke the silence which lasted for about half a minute.

Mewtwo glared at him immediately since it wasn't pleased with the fact that it wasn't able to fully eliminate the worrying feeling. The scientist took a step back. Even though the mysterious Pokemon didn't move, whenever it looked at them, its presence was threatening enough to make Bill regret ever wanting to find it. Mewtwo looked at his shivering hands and slowly closed its eyes to give itself a short while to think. It already felt like a bad decision at that moment, but for some reason it couldn't stop itself. It opened its eyes back again and looked at the human in front of it.

"You may speak."

Bill still looked unsure but he slowly began to repeat what he wanted to say earlier "Is it possible... that you're using... telepathy... I mean... To communicate with..."

"Yes." Mewtwo replied without giving the man a chance to finish his sentence.

Seeing that the being in front of them was willing to hear them out, Red completely forgot the sense of fear he felt initially. He allowed his curiosity to take over and took a step forward before speaking up.

"Are you a Pokemon?"

Bill was shocked by the fact that Red was somehow able to act normally in Mewtwo's presence. It was after hearing the teenager speak that he realized that his body started hunching over on its own. He noticed his knees shaking and wanted to punch them in order to make it stop but he subconsciously thought that it would be a bad idea to make any sudden movements so he decided against. Still, he grabbed onto them, hoping that it would be useful in calming himself down. Mewtwo made took a split second glance at the scientist since even those slight motions were enough to catch its attention. Surmising that it wasn't worth its attention, the Pokemon looked back at Red and took in what the question posed by the teenager meant.

"A Pokemon..." they could hear its mutter in their minds "...I guess you could say that. But then again... You can see that I'm much more..."

It stopped itself to find a better word than "human". It wasn't a long pause, but Mewtwo still looked irritated by the fact that it almost slipped up by saying something like that.

"I'm different than other Pokemon... I'm also different than humans... Perhaps it's this... the fact that I'm the only one of my kind... that makes me feel more important than I should do."

Red felt confused by that enigmatic answer, but the sight of the mysterious being worrying about choosing the right vocabulary was weirdly entertaining. He leaned back a little while holding up the back of his head with both hands and lifted one of his legs slightly, making a shape similar to the letter "D". The pose was quite relaxing and was somehow remembered by his body to be something that would show that he wasn't threatening in any way. Until that moment the reason Mewtwo wasn't concerned with the presence of the two males was his confidence in its own strength. If they tried to attack it, it would be able to defeat them. But the teenager wanted the Pokemon to be able to understand that it didn't need to keep its guard up. Red himself didn't know how talented he was at making others drop their defenses and the way he acted was just something that came to him naturally.

"You're really overthinking this stuff."

Mewtwo looked at him with a surprised expression. It felt something weird happening with its face so it quickly reached towards it with one hand. It tried to decipher what was happening by feeling the details around its mouth.

"I'm smiling... Why am I smiling?" the shock was enough to make it abandon the psychic connection so those words existed solely in its mind.

It looked at Red with suspicion but the boy seemed oblivious to the effect he had on Mewtwo. The Pokemon stared at him for some time, trying to understand what it was that caused it to be put at ease. Its mind wandered to Seafoam Islands and the time spent battling with Articuno. Somehow, the teenager in front of it was giving out the same vibe. Mewtwo began to understand that the reason it was able to feel that way was that it wasn't alone.

After being created by Team Rocket, Mewtwo was surrounded by mostly negative emotions and whenever it was on the run, all it could focus on was how to avoid encountering the criminals again. But that meant that they were on his mind all of the time. Whenever it was with someone else, with Articuno or Red, their positive feelings were shining strong enough that it was able to forget all the bad things. That caused it to question whether running away was actually a good thing. Even if he was able to avoid Team Rocket, the thought that they would finally catch up to it was still in its mind, corrupting it into a similarly negative thing.

"I guess I'm happy." it stated after reconnecting their minds.

"That's good. I like to be happy." Red responed while smiling "By the way... I think there's someone who wants to meet you."

After saying that, he reached towards one of the pokeballs. He felt it trembling for some time but was still careful enough not to let the one inside out until the one in front of them would be comfortable with it. Red looked at Mewtwo who nodded in approval.

"Go, Charmander!" the trainer shouted while throwing the ball into air.

After forming from the light, the lizard looked weirdly pent-up. He was moving around as if he had too much energy stored inside and wanted to release it all at once. It took him some time before he noticed where they were, and even slightly longer to remember the reason for wanting to escape its pokeball. He looked towards Mewtwo who immediately felt the small Pokemon's excitement. It was an immediately recognizable feeling. The same one it and Articuno felt when facing each other. Unfortunately for the fire Pokemon, Mewtwo didn't respond in the same way since its instinct told it that similarly to Red and Bill, Charmander wouldn't be able to face it in battle. It was easy to tell that any fight between them would be a one-sided one. But the lizard's determination to face a strong opponent, signified by him scratching the floor, swinging his tail, and the light smoke escaping from his mouth, was enough to convince the artificial Pokemon to give the little one a shot at fighting it.

"Alright. If it's a battle you want, then a battle you shall have, Charmander!" it announced.

"Watch out." stated Red "Since we come as a package deal."

The boy stood behind his Pokemon, with his arms crossed. Seeing that, Mewtwo only then remembered that Pokemon who live in pokeballs were used to fighting by receiving commands from their trainers. Although it didn't give it much thought previously, it was of the opinion that Pokemon should be able to fight by themselves, but somehow seeing the two in front of him unified in their confidence made its blood rush enough to at least raise its curiosity.

"If you're also to be my opponent, it would be well if I could learn your name. I could take it from your mind since those kind of things are easy to learn, but I know you humans have this thing called... "respect". At least in this sense, I want us to be equals." Mewtwo explained.

Red smiled, feeling a little embarrassed by the fact that just a couple minutes ago he was scared of the one in front of him, and now they were to stand on even ground as opponents "My name is Red. But we still haven't learned your name."

The Pokemon looked a little surprised that the boy asked himself, but it already was giving some thought to how it should introduce itself "I guess I have two names... but both of them weren't something that I had chosen for myself..."

It looked around for something that would give it an idea. It finally stopped after finding some shining object on the floor. It walked over and picked it up before turning to Red.

"What is this thing called?"

"I guess it's some kind of a cross." the boy responded after taking a look at it.

"Then that'll be my name. From now on, call me Cross!" it declared while sticking its right arm forward, after throwing away its namesake.

"I'm Bill, by the way."

The words interrupted the dramatic mood so everybody momentarily turned their attention to look at the scientist. It seemed like he was slowly regaining his composure, since he smiled slightly, but it looked like he decided to sit down on one of the better looking benches in order not to get in the way, and to wait until he was completely fine. He did a weird wave with his hand, which probably meant that he wanted them to go on with whatever they were doing, and not to pay him any more attention.

. . .

Some amount of time earlier, two helicopters, each carrying around a dozen Team Rocket members, were about to fly over Cerulean City. The same girl who earlier informed Angie about one of their men finding M2, was sitting opposite of the admin, waiting for some kind of order. She glanced towards a window, although she couldn't see anything of interest without standing up. Since the information about their target's whereabouts was pretty vague, she wondered if their boss decided on a suitable place to land. They had a distorted photo which caught Mewtwo's legs and tail. Since it was taken in Cerulean a day earlier, they had to hope that the Pokemon didn't leave. Another thing to take into account was how would it be able to hide in the city. The old part seemed like the only good place but it would still take a long time to search all the ruins without scaring M2 away. Unfortunately for them, the labyrinth of alleys was too tight for their vehicles and they couldn't land in the new part of the city without attracting attention.

"How are..." the girl stopped herself mid-sentence after seeing Angie stand up.

She realized that the pilot announced that they were closing in, right before she started her question. Angie's movements seemed almost robotic because of how much she was focused on her goal. The admin walked over to the doors, everyone else giving her space, without asking any questions about her intentions. After inputting a combination of numbers, the doors opened on their own and before anyone could understand what happened, Angie was gone. A bunch of her underlings started undoing the belts holding them in their seats, so the other girl had to take command in order to stop them from doing something unnecessary, not to mention dangerous.

"Stop that! Return to your seats!"

They listened to her begrudgingly, but even after returning to their places, they remained clearly worried. The girl decided to deal with that by using a communication device placed in her ear to contact their boss. She pointed at it to let everyone know that they should turn on their own ones.

"Miss Angie. What should be our course of action?"

"I'll land in the old city and start scouting it out. Find a place to land outside Cerulean and change into civilian clothing. Enter the old city when you're ready but let me know. Cover the biggest entrances and have at least two people observing from somewhere up high in case M2 tries to escape by air. If we don't find it immediately, we'll using Koffings and Weezings to smoke it out." she responded, although at some points it was hard to hear her because of the wind.

The Team Rocket members felt a lot more calm knowing that she was okay, although many of them still wondered what she did. They rarely saw her using her Pokemon, but even then, they didn't remember her having a Flying type at her disposal.

. . .

"Now look at this! Water Gun!"

Misty's Staryu who already was using Rapid Spin to rotate in air, started shooting out a stream of water, although making sure not to put too much power into it. The effect seemed similar to a sprinkler or a small fountain. The children watch this performance with awe. Seeing that they were growing uncomfortable with waiting for Red an Bill to return, the Gym leader decided that it was the best way to cheer them up. Additionally, having Staryu already out of its pokeball was a good move, in case the mysterious Pokemon would find them before the boys would find it. Although she already saw this kind of thing multiple times, Misty also got into Staryu's show and observed its movements with a big smile. It was thanks to looking up towards it, that she noticed something quickly flying over the buildings. She could tell that it was something blue, but nothing else.

"Was that the Pokemon you were talking about?" she turned to the children.

Neither of them seemed sure. Misty began worrying that the Pokemon would run away if it noticed them so she started looking around. After finding a building in a relatively good state, she told the children to hide in there until she returned, leaving Staryu to protect them in case the mysterious Pokemon would return and find them. After that, she took off in the direction it flew towards.

. . .

"I give you the right to attack first." said Mewtwo.

"Oh. That's awfully nice of you. But it seems like you're not taking us seriously." responded Red "And that may be a big mistake on your part. Charmander, Flame Charge!"

The lizard set itself on fire and started running towards the opponent. Even though his speed was increased, Mewtwo perceived his movements almost as if the Fire Pokemon was moving in slow motion. It decided against making any unnecessary movements and simply jumped while raising its knees, making its foe run straight into the altar. Realizing what just happened, all the lizard could do was turn off his flames. The altar was a wooden one and setting it on fire could lead to the whole church catching on fire. Despite that, the force with which he hit it was enough to make him break through the wood and get the upper half of his body stuck inside. Mewtwo wondered whether it should help its opponent get out of there, but chose not to do it after seeing Charmander struggling with all his strength.

"Use Metal Claw to get out."

After listening to his trainer, the lizard was easily able to break through the wood. He turned towards Mewtwo, trying to hide how angry he was at being treated in such a way. He didn't realize that thanks to its psychic abilities, his opponent could easily read the mood. It decided to use it to its advantage, even if it didn't really need to put in much work to win. It put one of its hands forward and made an inviting motion with it, taunting its foe.

"Charmander, don't let yourse..."

It was already too late. Charmander used another Flame Charge to launch himself in Mewtwo's direction before getting rid of it midway and turning his claws into metal. With each slash, Mewtwo took a swift backstep, at one point making even a spin. After some time, it jumped and did a somersault in order to land behind some obstacle. It was only after that Charmander realized that his opponent was dancing around him and he was led back straight to the altar. Mewtwo leaned forward by putting both its hands on the wood and looked at the lizard from above. The Fire Pokemon got frustrated even more, but at least it seemed like he realized that trying to fight on his own was even less effective than when he listened to Red's commands. He looked back at his trainer to let him know that he returned to his senses and was ready to listen to his orders again.

Red smiled and quickly came up with a new plan "Flamethrower up!"

Mewtwo had to push itself backwards in order to avoid the pillar of fire which almost hit its face. It lost its balance momentarily and the teenager wanted to make the best out of that small amount of time.

"Flame Charge!" he shouted while signaling with his hand.

Mewtwo used its tail to stabilize itself and was about to jump back, expecting Charmander to jump over the table, but because of the earlier Flamethrower, it wasn't able to see that Red ordered Charmander to circle around the altar. It saw the flames with the corner of its eye but wasn't able to do anything before being hit in its left leg. That was enough to make it trip up. Charmander had to travel some more before he would be able to stop himself and turn around. During that time, Mewtwo, who was falling towards the floor, used its telekinetic abilities to spin itself enough to break the fall with its arm.

Noticing that Charmander was already facing it again, readying another Flame Charge, it glared at him with an amazing amount of pressure. That was the sign of it using Disable to make the lizard unable to repeat his attack. Unfortunately for himself, the Fire Pokemon didn't realize it and began running at Mewtwo without setting itself on fire. Meanwhile, his trainer jumped onto one of the benches since he wasn't able to get a full view of the battle from the floor.

Mewtwo understood that even without fire surrounding him, Charmander hitting the arm, which was the only thing stopping it from falling down in those fractions of a second, would still be enough to deal some damage. To avoid that, it used its powers to cover its free arm and swung it, creating a blade of telekinetic energy which was enough to send Charmander flying into a nearby pillar. For a second, during which Mewtwo had enough time to jump back on its feet, Red became worried about the structural integrity of the church, since some dust fell down from the ceiling after that impact.

"Grab onto the pillar!" the boy ordered after noticing that Charmander was about to fall out of the small indentation he made with his body.

The lizard used Metal Claw to dig into the stone and was ready for his next command. Mewtwo was positively surprised by that swift recovery, which could be seen from its smirk.

"Flamethrower!"

This one was much more dangerous than the previous one since it was a horizontal attack. As soon as Mewtwo saw the flames traveling in its direction, it knew that it couldn't just step back like previously. It jumped to the side but the attack didn't stop. Charmander kept on spewing flames from his mouth, driving his opponent closer and closer to a wall. Mewtwo realized the trap it was walking into and took as little time as it could to use Barrier. The force it was able to withstand was in large part based on how much energy the Pokemon could exert itself. This way it became a contest of who would run out of power sooner. Since it already felt that Charmander couldn't keep up the Flamethrower longer than it could maintain its shield, it was against ending it in such a boring way. It started moving forward, although the constant onslaught of fire was making each step a great effort.

Realizing that Mewtwo planned to crash into Charmander with its Barrier, which would simultaneously stop the flames and damage the lizard, Red came up with a risky juke "Let go and use Smokescreen!"

As soon as the lizard stopped using flames, Mewtwo was able to speed up so it was still uncertain if Charmander would be able to escape from being crushed by the Barrier. Fortunately, the Psychic Pokemon slammed into the pillar at the same time that Charmander landed on the floor and started releasing black clouds of smoke from its mouth. Mewtwo released its shield and immediately tried to kick forward, hoping to hit its opponent, but instead his foot met with the pillar, irritating it.

It was clear that Charmander already managed to move away. Mewtwo decided to focus its abilities since, if it had enough time, it would be able to feel out where its opponent was. But Red didn't want to give him that chance. His Pokemon moved out of the cloud and looked at him. The boy pointed towards the place where the pillar was. He deduced that Mewtwo would try to go about the whole thing calmly, which in that instance would prove to be a wrong choice. Charmander understood his trainer without the need for words and shot out another Flamethrower before his foe was able to locate him. Mewtwo thought it felt something so it turned towards that direction while touching its head with one hand and pointing forward with the other.

"It must be him. I..."

It didn't have time to finish that thought since the flames of Charmander's attack reached it. Although they weren't enough to hurt it too much, the surprise of being hit by them was enough to make it stumble backwards, which allowed them to propel it through the air and into a wall. Red gave his Pokemon a sign to stop in order to try to listen and feel out how effective his plan was. The fact that it fell for such a basic trap, annoyed the artificial Pokemon more than it would like to admit. But that fact became clear when it allowed its emotion to control its actions.

After getting itself up from the floor, on which it landed after hitting the wall, the first thing it did was focus its energy to unleash a powerful Psywave which traveled through the entire church, dispersing the Smokescreen, but also pushing back Charmander and causing Red to fall off from the bench he was standing on. Bill immediately stood up. After regaining his calm, he observed the battle with great interest, but at that moment he became worried about Red. Fortunately, the boy got up from the floor with just a few bruises.

Mewtwo started quickly walking forward, but after realizing that its attack accidentally hurt the boy, it let go of the energy it was gathering in its hand. Even though there wasn't an official agreement, it knew that Red wasn't supposed to be involved in the battle in such a capacity, which immediately made it feel bad about what it did. It stopped midway and started wondering. The thing that caught its attention was that it never thought about how humans were much more fragile than Pokemon.

"Are you alright?" it spoke telepathically.

Its reaction momentarily surprised everyone, but Red smiled and gave it a thumbs up sign. Mewtwo felt relieved. It felt like it was about to undo everything it learned that day with one stupid act. It didn't have much time to think it over since another bothersome thing happened right at that moment. It heard a small piece of the ceiling fall down to the floor. All of them turned their gazes upwards and quickly realized that Mewtwo's Psywave must have disrupted the already weakened structure of the building.

More and more small pieces of rubble were falling towards the floor. The first thing Red did as a reaction to that, was return Charmander to his pokeball. Mewtwo quickly looked around to decide the best course of action in the limited time they had before the whole church would collapse on them. He grabbed both humans and while holding them like barrels of wine, shot out towards the entrance of the church, since it seemed that the hole in the wall would be quickly blocked, considering that the building started crumbling from the front. Bill closed his eyes because he remembered in an instant that the doors were locked and he feared they would crash into them. After hearing a loud noise, he opened them back again and saw that they were already outside. He looked back and realized that Mewtwo must have applied Psycho Cut to its leg in order to kick the doors open. They barely managed to land a few meters away from the church before they saw it completely collapse.

"That was a close one." stated Red, who for a moment had to take off his hat to wipe the sweat from his forehead.

"Yeah. No kidding." replied Bill "Let's never do that again."

Both of them started laughing. Mewtwo, who stood between them, looked at their happy faces and although it never did it before, it felt that it was about to laugh with them. It started to open its mouth but before any sound could come out of it, something unpleasant interrupted it. It instantly spun around and jumped back towards the church, making sure not to hit the other two with its tail. Realizing that something must have happen to make it act in such a manner, both humans went immediately stopped laughing, went on guard and turned to see what it was that affected their new acquaintance.

"Team Rocket!" both of them announced simultaneously.

The one who stood before them was Angie. She wasn't alone. Her Dragonair was slowly circling around her, moving through the air, ready to protect her from any attack. She started walking forward and her Pokemon was able to keep up without breaking its rotation. Uncertain of what she could want with them, both males remained vigilant. She stopped when she was around a meter away from them. She stared at each of them for about 5 seconds before turning her gaze towards Mewtwo.

"It seems I'm in the presence of a celebrity." she stated.

Bill, who subconsciously focused on how naturally beautiful the girl looked, blushed a little while responding "Weeell... I wouldn't exactly call myself a celebrity."

"I wasn't talking about you." she quickly interjected without even looking in his direction "I have no idea who you are. But you..."

She walked up even closer to Red, ignoring the quiet sobbing of the disappointed scientist. Even with the Dragonair spinning around her, they were almost uncomfortably close.

"I know you. I don't have a lot of free time but I still dedicate it to improving Team Rocket. I dug around a bit and found out that you already got in our way 3 times. Not to mention your fight with Darkness Gang." she explained.

"Oookay... Why did you do that?"

She sighed quietly since her opinion of him already worsened after seeing that he wasn't immediately able to catch onto what she was suggesting.

"I offer you a place on Team Rocket." she said while extending one hand towards his face, as if she was expecting him to kiss it "If you're as good as they make you out to be, you can even become my right hand. And I assure you that you'll be much better off with me than with Alex."

"Am I supposed to be charmed?" he asked while gently shoving her hand away.

She furrowed her brows but quickly returned to a calmer expression, in order to pretend that she didn't really care that Red wasn't interest in her offer.

"That's enough!" Mewtwo's thoughts were so loud that all the humans grabbed their ears, even though it wasn't of any use in blocking its telepathy.

"That's right. It's shameful that I would get so distracted right after finding my target." commented Angie.

She started looking in Mewtwo's direction.

"Wait a minute. Do you know her, Cross?" Red was trying to understand the situation at hand.

"Cross?" she asked with a monotone voice "So you have chosen a new name for yourself... That won't do. Your name is M2. You're the property of Team Rocket. Now, quit this foolishness and come with me. I don't want to harm you if it's not necessary since everyone put so much work into creating you... Especially the boss. He has great hopes for you."

"I refuse." it responded immediately.

Angie was so concerned about how to deal with Mewtwo's refusal, especially without her underlings and the unforeseen factor of Red being there, that she didn't notice Bill quietly slipping away into another alley. When the scientist was far enough, he took out his cellphone and, through a video call, connected with Cerulean City Police Department.

Angie was taken out of her thoughts by a sound in her ear. It was obvious that it was her subordinates trying to inform her that they entered the old part of the city, but she decided to listen to what they had to say anyway, which was a big mistake on her part. Mewtwo quickly advanced towards her as soon as she lost her focus and delivered a powerful and precise punch to Dragonair's chin. It was so strong that it pushed the dragon backwards without it having time to release Angie from its protection, which caused it to have the opposite effect since the girl was pulled along with it. The Pokemon hit the wall of a nearby building and took most of the brunt of the attack, but the admin looked like she also felt some of it, which could be seen from her massaging her arm after falling on the cobbled road.

Mewtwo's attack was so fast that it took Red a second to understand what just happened. When he saw quiet anger in the Pokemon's eyes, the boy quickly walked up to it, hoping that he would be able to calm it down. It wasn't because he was worried for the Team Rocket member but because he didn't want Cross to once again become swallowed by negative thoughts. He jumped in front of it after realizing that it wanted to walk towards Angie to deliver another hit.

"Move out of my way. Don't try to stop me, Red."

"No. You can't do it. I saw how you felt after hurting me in the church. This is the same as that. It's different from a Pokemon battle where everyone agrees on a fight."

"No. This isn't the same. You don't understand." the voice it projected sounded more and more annoyed.

"Then make me understand!" the boy insisted.

"They... Team Rocket... Aside from the fact that they haven't stopped following me... I don't really know what kind of organization they are. But I can feel their emotions. As soon as I was born, everything I could feel around me was like clouds of poison. I had to get out of there. Even this one..." he stopped to point at Angie who pushed away her Dragonair to have an easier time at getting of the ground "...I can feel the good in her but it's hidden away under a deep layer of darkness. Although I sometimes can feel negativity from normal people... Even your doubts during our battle, even Bill's fear after seeing me... The light in you gives me hope that humans can be good. But not them. There's not a single member of Team Rocket who could be considered a good person. I don't know what they created me for but it's surely something that would create even more negativity in the world. I finally understand what I should have done from the beginning... I need to destroy them to erase all that negativity."

"You're not going to change anything that way. Instead of focusing on erasing the negative feeling through force, you should focus on trying to understand where those feelings come from. I'm not really that smart when it comes to those things but I know that talking to someone is better than not giving them a chance."

"No!"

Mewtwo accidentally unleashed a Psywave which threw the boy on the ground. The Pokemon immediately looked worried by what it has done. Before it could offer the teenager a helping hand, he got up himself and got right in its face.

"Yes! Don't you see? I care about what you want to do with this girl! If you destroy her like you said and I start hating you, what will you do?! Will you want to erase my negativity too?!"

Mewtwo was so conflicted that it had to drop the telepathic connection. It grabbed its head and hunched over, hoping to find a good answer to Red's question among the multitude of thoughts going through its head. While the artificial Pokemon was busy battling its thoughts, it seemed like the Team Rocket admin wanted to start an entirely different battle.

"Dragonair, Fire Blast!"

As soon as her Pokemon shot out its five-armed flame, one of Red's pokeballs opened on its own and Charmander jumped out of it in order to block the attack with his body. Although being a Fire type helped the lizard withstand it, he still felt the pain. Mewtwo, Angie and Dragonair looked as surprised by his arrival as his own trainer. The Pokemon looked at Red with determination in his eyes.

"I understand." the boy responded.

"What is..." Mewtwo tried to ask, although it was barely able to stand because of the mess of thoughts weakening its mind and messing with its ability to perceive things.

"Charmander came up with a great idea. You feel like it's your duty to get the world rid of Team Rocket because you experienced firsthand the effect of their negativity. But if we're there to help you, you won't have to deal with it alone which means you won't have to use such drastic measures." explained the trainer.

His Pokemon nodded in approval of the conveyed message.

"Why are you... willing to go to such lengths... for someone you just met?"

"What are you talking about?" Red smiled before turning his back towards the Pokemon in order to make what he was about to say seem less embarrassing "We're already friends."

Angie became somewhat mesmerized since the interactions between Red and M2 seemed weirdly interesting. She quickly came back to her senses after noticing that the boy was staring at her. She blushed, ashamed by the fact that she didn't take her chance to attack when they were occupied.

"What are you waiting for?! Use another Fire Blast!" she ordered her Pokemon.

"Counter it with a Flamethrower!" shouted Red.

Both of the Pokemon shot out their flames and their attacks collided in mid-air. Although Dragonair's move was stronger it was a one-time thing, while Charmander kept on using Flamethrower which meant that Fire Blast was slowly but surely being pushed back towards the dragon.

"That's how you want to play?!" Angie somewhat became more excited by the battle than she would have liked to "We'll also use Flamethrower!"

The added force of Dragonair's second attack shifted tipped the scales in the admin's favor but it seemed like that particular day wasn't ready to stop gifting Red with surprises. Right as they were about to lose, Charmander's body started to glowing with a bright light. He grew larger and seemed to gain a horn on his head. As soon as the light faded, the power of his Flamethrower strengthened significantly. The Pokemon was now red instead of orange, but even though his appearance changed, his will to fight remained the same. Red didn't have to use the Pokedex to learn this new form's name, since he already looked it up previously, out of curiosity. But there was something else to be learned from the device. Just as he thought, with this evolution, his Pokemon gained a new move and it seemed like a good time to try it out.

"Let's kick it up a notch! Charmeleon, change your Flamethrower into a Dragon Rage!"

Because he was already using another attack, the flames created by the new move didn't look like the ones Red saw earlier in the day, instead keeping the continuous form of Flamethrower, seemingly changing only in color. But that was just a secondary observation. As soon as the blue flames reached the Fire Blast which was stuck between the two streams of fire, they started to push it back with great speed. Dragonair kept on pushing back when suddenly it felt something hit its face from the side. It was distracted long enough for Charmeleon's Dragon Rage to completely obliterate the dragon's flames, causing a big explosion which sent it flying through the wall which was weakened from the previous time it hit it.

Charmeleon stopped its attack and everyone looked to the side to see who helped him win. The ones they saw were Misty and her Starmie. Angie looked ticked off but she held her anger inside. She quickly returned Dragonair to its pokeball before looking around like a bewildered Rattata surrounded by Ekanses. She was about to call out her second Pokemon when she heard her communicator again.

"What is taking you so long?" she said quietly after touching it, making sure to keep her eyes on everyone around her.

"You told some guys to find a high ground and observe... Dammit! You told them to observe everything from there. It seems somebody called the police. They just arrived and now we're in the middle of a battle." responded one of her underlings.

"Who...?!"

"Hey, everyone. Did I miss anything?" asked Bill who has just returned.

Only after looking at him, Angie realized that he must have slipped away sometime earlier and called the police. She wanted to punish him for interfering her plans but knew that Red would stop her if she wasn't fast enough. She threw a pokeball in the scientist direction in order to have her Sandslash appear right in front of him.

"Slash!" she chose that attack since it had the shortest name, in order to further increase the chances of nobody being able to stop it.

Although neither Red nor Misty were fast enough to give out an order, there was still someone who could choose the best course of action on their own. Mewtwo pushed itself off the ground and although there was no time to activate Psycho Cut, it blocked the attack with its crossed arms. Sandslash didn't even notice what happened until it landed and noticed the purple body in front of it. The Ground Pokemon was so shocked, especially by the fact that its attack didn't seem to do almost any damage, that it had to take a couple steps back.

Although it also took him a while to understand what happened, Bill finally spoke up "Thanks for the save."

"That's what friends are for." Cross responded while giving Red a meaningful look.

Sandslash backed off so far that it ended up next to its trainer, whose attempts at keeping in her anger looked like she was almost about to cry. To let out her anger, she punched the already damaged wall, not noticing that it caused a loose tile to fall off the roof. Since her Sandslash seemed oblivious to it, Red was the closest person. In the state she was in, it was almost certain that she wouldn't listen to him so he opted for a more direct approach.

He tackled her, not giving her a chance to understand what was happening. They flew through the hole in the wall and it would seem like they were out of danger but the floor was covered with rubble and glass so the landing probably wouldn't be too soft. Red spun around so that it would be him who would take in most of the pain. He felt something pierce his back. It hurt so much that he immediately let go of the girl, who got up as quick as she could, confused and trying not to blush.

As she was going back through the hole, she noticed the destroyed tile in the place she was standing in before. After seeing that, she glanced back at the boy who was slowly getting up. Her first instinct was to repay his kindness by giving him a helping hand, but she immediately reminded herself that he was still her enemy. Not to mention that Misty, who was worried about Red, approached the building and her Starmie was dangerously close.

"Miss Angie!" someone shouted.

Suddenly, a bunch of Team Rocket members arrived from different directions. Bill decided to keep hiding behind Mewtwo since the criminals had multiple Ekanses, Zubats and Koffings with them. Among them was Angie's right hand who saluted her boss as soon as she looked at her.

"Our people are still struggling with the police but we're here to help you." the girl announced.

"Good. Now that we have bigger numbers, the victory will be ours." stated the admin.

"I wouldn't be so sure of that." although Red was bleeding from his back, he managed to get out of the building and throw four pokeballs into air "Go, everyone!"

Seeing that, Misty decided to call out her last Pokemon "Go, my steady!"

Red and Misty stood together, surrounded by Red's team, Starmie and Golduck. Seeing that, some of the Team Rocket members became a little uncertain of their chances at winning but after receiving one angry look from Angie, each of them was ready to take their chances with the battle. They were about to start giving orders, but Cross, who didn't need any, was quicker. Before anyone could attempt something, it already appear in front of two Zubats and knocked them down towards the ground with solid chops. Seeing a Koffing trying to react to its attack, it spun around, grabbed it with its tail and threw it at a nearby Ekans, taking both of them out of the battle. While everyone was busy trying to comprehend what happened, Red didn't waste any time and started giving out orders.

"Dragon Rage! Thunderbolt! Swift! Bounce! Mega Drain!" he said while pointing to specific targets, so that his Pokemon wouldn't clash with each other by trying to attack the same enemy.

Misty followed in his steps "Rapid Spin! Zen Headbutt!"

Seeing her underlings' Pokemon being defeated one after another, Angie started realizing that she should have already abandoned the mission. She struggled between the thoughts of failing Giovanni and her being able to escape. Although it would mean being humiliated by Alex and Peter, running away would mean that she could still be able to be of use to Team Rocket in the future.

"You! What's your name?!" she asked one of the closer Team Rocket members, one whom she for some reason didn't recognize.

"It's Ro... Roger." he responded "I know I'm not part of your faction but I wante..."

"I don't care. Tell your Koffing to use Smokescreen so that we can escape."

"But what about..."

"Do what I tell you." she added with a much colder voice.

"Koffing, use Smokescreen!"

Although the battle didn't last long, it was only after beating everyone else, and with Mewtwo keeping an eye on all the helpless Team Rocket members, that Red was able to see that Angie managed to run away. But all of the excitement of the day and his slow blood loss were too much for him to attempt running after her, especially if he didn't know which way she went.

"Alright. So what now?" asked Bill, who finally felt safe enough to approach the others.

"I'm not sure. I want to be more like Red, but I still can't forgive Team Rocket... At the same time, living while fighting for freedom every day of my life..." Cross sounded very somber.

"Oh. I completely forgot about this thing." Bill stated after taking out the device he showed to Red when they entered the church "It's a shame I didn't get to use it."

"That's it!" exclaimed Red.

He almost fell over, but Mewtwo caught him in time.

"Misty." the boy looked at the Gym leader.

"What is it?"

"It may be a little specific but do you know any place in Cerulean or nearby which is a big, enclosed space, with access to food and water, yet without any humans inside?"

The girl felt like Red was joking since the kind of place he described did exist, and was known by everyone living in Cerulean City.

. . .

After the police arrived and arrested around half of the Team Rocket members who took part in the hunt for Mewtwo, Misty went back for the pair of children and introduced them to Mewtwo. She, Cross and Bill kept Red company when he visited the hospital to get the shards of glass taken out of his back. He got bandaged and, although the doctor insisted that he stay the night, decided to leave in order to check out the place he and Misty talked about.

They had to take a boat to get there and the sun had already set by the time they arrived at the entrance to the famous Cerulean Cave. Bill took that chance to explain that the place was a mine in the past, but the presence of humans angered a Rhydon who went on a rampage and scared all the people away. Although the cave was abandoned, during the summer, teenagers would sometimes dare each other to spend a night inside.

"I know it's not as nice as that church you were in but there's a looot more space. There are ponds, edible roots and mushrooms, so you'll never be thirsty or hungry. And you'll have other Pokemon to keep you company. So?" Red looked at Mewtwo "Do... Do you like it? Maybe not? We can search for another..."

"No. This is fine." responed Cross "But I feel bad by passing my burden onto you."

"Hey! Remember. "That's what friends are for". Besides, it's not something that I'll be doing alone."

"That's right." said Misty "Police, Gym leaders and even some more amazing people are all uniting. Together we'll surely defeat Team Rocket."

"You'll be safe in here. Although I still don't know if I'll be able to create something that will be able to break the barrier, I'll start working on it as soon as Team Rocket are all behind bars."

"And I'll arrange to have two people always guarding the entrance to the cave, so that they can contact me if Team Rocket try something."

Mewtwo smiled. It though about how Articuno would react if it saw him with all these new, great friends. It reached out to Bill who handed it the device.

"Push this button. Give the barrier some time to cover the cave and then just throw this thing on the ground." the scientist explained.

"Alright." responed the Pokemon.

It wend inside the cave and, soon after that, a pink light shone from inside. Red approached the entrance at took a last look at Cross, through the slightly transparent energy field. The Pokemon waved to him and gave him a smile before disappearing in the darkness of the cave.

* * *

Hello, people of the internet. I think I shout get like a welcome phrase which I could use regularly instead of writing something stupid every time.

The first arc(I would call it Mewtwo Arc, even though it was only in like 4/21 chapters) is finally over. Surprisingly, this finale was easier to write than the two parter about Blue. The main thing was me trying to stop myself from writing too much. I was considering splitting this one further into two 4k words chapters but I decided against it since there wasn't a good place to stop. So you get the entire story about how Red and Cross/Mewtwo(Another name I was considering was Fresco) became friends, in one package.

Speaking about that, the friendship was the biggest change for those two chapters. The word for word description I had of those chapter since before even Gen 6 came out is(I'll have to quickly translate it which is somehow harder than just writing in english):

"Red arrives in Cerulean City after choosing another way to reach Celadon City. There's a big ruckus in the city because of a Team Rocket attack. Misty and a Pokemon research, Bill(Originally he didn't appear in Chapter 9), suspect that they(Team Rocket) are trying to draw attention away from a cave next to the city, in which lives a powerful Pokemon. When they arrive there, they see Angie, an admin, and a Sandslash with Mewtwo(This sentence didn't even sound right). Red sends Magikarp and Oddish to stop Sandslash, and together with the remaining Pokemon tries to calm down Mewtwo. Bill develops a computer program to catch Mewtwo. Misty protects him from Team Rocket. During the fight, Charmander evolves into Charmeleon. Bill locks Mewtwo in the cave and Team Rocket runs away."

So, basically, besides the characters, everything changed. During those couple years I learned how to plan out stories so instead of having Mewtwo debut only now, I planted the seeds for this story since Chapters 10-11. I came to a conclusion that having Mewtwo as an antagonist wouldn't be fun nor original. I also changed Bill's computer program(?) into a chekov's gun... barrier maker. Yeah. I also wanted to put some focus on Angie since she's my favorite admin. She always had a Dragonair but in my plans it didn't debut till later, so having Dragonair right after a Dratini was a coincidence.

I went and cheated a bit with Charmeleon. I try to have every Pokemon have only 4 moves at any given time. I like Charmander's moveset. It's very versatile and I can write(hopefully) interesting battles with it so I didn't want to change it, but I needed to give it a new move. That's why I decided that I'll count Dragon Rage as a variation of Flamethrower and this way have him with 5 moves. Also, if anyone didn't realize, Mewtwo wasn't fighting seriously until it used the Psywave. If it did, Charmander would end up like those Team Rocket Pokemon at the end.

The name of the chapter connects with the previous one to make "Search and Destroy", since Team Rocket are kinda like an army. And the titles clearly illustrate what each chapter is about.

I'll probably take a short break before I start writing the next chapter so it may not come out until february. Also, the next 5-6 aren't really a part of an arc. Another, more tightly knitted arc start after that so look forward to it.

There was probably a lot more stuff I wanted to talk about but it's hard to remember. If anything isn't clear, don't be afraid to ask. I'll try to explain. Also, let me know if I make any goofs. I looked at the previous chapter a couple time for reference and there was one sentence where I messed up and used like three different words instead of the one I wanted and it didn't make any sense. I went and changed it but there's probably a bunch of these mistakes that neither me nor Word are able to catch.

Also, unrelated to the Chapter but related to Pokemon, I finally got a Ludicolo in Go. Aside from most legendaries(don't have time for raids) and regionals and Pokemon not yet available in the game, I have all the Pokemon from Gen 1-3. Now I'm going to start walking around with a Skorupi or something.

EDIT: I actually forgot a short scene I wanted to write. I'll try to put it in the next chapter or something.

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmeleon, Raichu, Oddish, Magikarp.

Badges: 3

Green. Team: Ivysaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, ?.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Bellsprout(Bell), Wartortle(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.


	28. 22: Cave Story

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 22: Cave Story.

"Haha. Let me get this straight. Both of you found M2 and both of you let it get away."

The Team Rocket admins were gathered in the same room as usual. Since Alex was busy with his own investigation into Mewtwo's whereabouts, he wasn't aware of the fact that Angie and her forces went to Cerulean City. After hearing of her failure, he was taking delight in ridiculing the other two, since he seemed to think that it would make him seem the most capable in Giovanni's eyes.

"At least we were able to find it. What were you doing all this time?" responded Peter.

"Hey, buddy. Nobody likes a sore loser. Now that I know the location of this thing, I'm going to bring it here with no problems."

"Didn't you listen to the report? We already had people try to break through that barrier and they weren't able to put a dent in it. You should be glad. If you were to face M2, it would crush you like a soda can."

"Oh yeah?" Alex was getting visibly angry "What about you? Was it really so strong?"

He looked at Angie but she wasn't responding. It looked like she was busy looking at something on her tablet. Alex decided to sneakily come up to her and snatch it from her hands.

"What do we have here? Oh! It's..."

He didn't get a chance to finish his sentence since he yelled out in pain after the girl struck the back of his knee with a kick. She grabbed the device which fell out of his hands and quickly turned it off so the third admin wouldn't be able to see it. Not wanting to waste her time with on arguing, she left the room in a hurry. Alex ran after her as soon as the pain subsided, but he couldn't tell in which direction she went. If he decided to search for her, he wouldn't find that she was just around the corner, with the screen of the tablet lit up.

"I should be more careful from now on." she thought to herself "Things like this are a weakness that I can't afford."

She proceeded to delete an image of Red she got off the internet.

. . .

Somewhere deep in the mountains north of Kanto, a massive man in his twenties was standing in the middle of a big plateau. He wasn't wearing anything besides a pair of white, slightly damaged, pants and heavy bracelets around on his wrists and ankles. Although the whole set weighted 100 kilograms, he was able to effortlessly move around. For several minutes, without any rest, he was practicing a set of punches and kicks. Although it was a cold day, it didn't seem like he was affected by the weather in any way.

He continued his movements until he heard something. Even though normally his senses would be able to detect it much sooner, he was so concentrated on what he was doing that he realized that he had a visitor, only after he was right above him. The person who arrived to meet him was riding on the back of their Dragonite. The dragon Pokemon landed nearby and allowed its trainer to jump off its back. The training man reached towards a nearby duffel bag. He needed to take a sip of water in order to be able to have a conversation with his guest.

"What brings you here, Lance?"

Dragonite's trainer had long, spiky, red hair. He was wearing a peculiar navy blue suit, black boots. His cape, which was black on the outside and maroon on the inside, was billowing in the wind.

"Do you really have to speak to me like that, Bruno? How about "Hello, Lance. Long time no see."? Why do you have to assume that I come here for some special reason. Maybe I just wanted to meet my friend."

"We haven't seen each other since the last Pokemon League. Besides... we're in the middle of nowhere. You wouldn't search for me if it wasn't something important."

"Oh, man. Nothing gets past you."

"Of course not. I..." Bruno took a pause after noticing a slight smirk on Lance's face "Was that sarcasm?"

"I don't know. Was it?"

"I swear, Lance, I will..." he said while clenching his fists.

"Alright, alright. I'm sorry. I didn't come here to cause any trouble. In fact, I'm here because I need your help."

"My help? With what?"

"Let's just say that it's something really important. Like... Kanto being ruled by a maniac with an evil army important."

"Alright. I'll listen."

Lance scratched himself behind the ear "Well... That's the thing. We still don't really know what the enemy is planning. I just wanted to know that I can count on the rest of the Elite Four when the time comes."

"As I already said... I'm in."

Lance was at a loss words, especially since he didn't want it to get to Bruno's head if he praised him "I didn't expect you to be the easiest to convince."

"What about the other two?"

"I already visited that hag and she told me to leave her alone. Seriously, we need someone new to replace her. I had the Gym leader from Pewter City contact Lorelei but as soon as she heard that I was involved, she refused to take any part in it. I hope that I'll be able to convince Agatha now that I have you on my side."

"And Lorelei?"

Lance didn't have a good answer for that question "I'll think of something."

. . .

"What do you think? Is it edible?"

Red was holding a green mushroom full of small pores up to Eevee's nose, so that the Pokemon could pass his judgement. The dog sniffed it and immediately jumped back as if he felt an immediate threat.

"Guess not. If even a Pokemon can't eat this, then what's the point?" he asked while throwing the mushroom behind him.

The road to Lavender Town was taking much longer than expected since the system of underground paths connecting it with the northern part of Kanto was so complicated that Red kept on losing his way. He didn't know how much he had yet to travel and he already was left with none of the food that he bought before entering. He didn't have to worry about getting water but foraging was much harder than in a forest.

Even if he were to try fishing, there was no way he would be able to find any wood with which to set up a fire. Although he finally found a cave with some mushrooms, it didn't seem like any of them were safe to eat. It was his second day without food but he was more worried about his Pokemon. He intentionally avoided any wild Pokemon, since his team was too tired to take part in any battles. Even Eevee who liked to walk by his trainer's side, would only be allowed to leave his pokeball in order to check another type of mushroom.

"Maybe I should consider eating bugs." he said to himself after noticing a centipede near his feet.

Although he was joking, the hunger was so unbearable that it clouded his judgement. He immediately reached towards the insect but it managed to escape him by hiding under a big, brown, rock. Thinking that maybe that was a hiding place for other of its kind, he lifted it up. To his surprise, there was nothing beneath the rock. Considering the possibility of the centipede hiding on the underside of the boulder, he turned it around, only to see something unexpected.

The other side of the rock was completely black, aside from four yellow shapes, resembling claws or horns. He stared at it for a while, not knowing what to make of it, when suddenly a pair of red eyes looked back at him. It was so sudden that he dropped it and had to do a quick backstep so it wouldn't land on his foot. Right after touching the ground, the rock started moving around. Red was afraid that he accidentally may have enraged some unknown Pokemon. He decided to check Pokedex for information about this thing, but he didn't feel safe with it crawling towards him, so he jumped up on to a kind of round, beige boulder.

To his shock, the thing he stepped on seemed to be another Pokemon since as soon as his feet touched it, it begun spinning around, making him fall down on the ground. He wanted to stand up as soon as possible and make a run for it but he realized that he was already surrounded by a whole swarm. Pokedex identified the two Pokemon as Kabuto and Omanyte, although there was almost no useful information about them aside from how their names, their types and how they looked.

"Cover your mouth and nose!" a voice yelled from somewhere.

Without giving it much thought, Red listened to it. Right after doing it, a bunch of small sachets came flying in his direction. After hitting the ground around him and some of the Pokemon, they broke, releasing some kind of pink gas. Before Red had time to understand what just happened, somebody grabbed him by his sleeve and started dragging him away, before letting go so that the boy could follow them on his own.

. . .

"Okay. It seems they didn't follow us. You were lucky I was nearby. But what were you thinking, not bringing any repels with you?"

"Umm... Thanks for saving me but... Who are you?"

Since the person who saved him was busy looking around a corner to make sure that none of the Pokemon were chasing them, the trainer didn't get a chance to get a look at them.

"I should probably say something like "Where are my manners?", yes? That's what you would expect. Well, I'm not one to go for clichés. If you want to know my name, you should first introduce yourself."

The person was a male, about 20 years old. He had short, brown, hair, and wore a pair of beige, under rim glasses on his nose. His pants and long-sleeved shirt were tan and had a multitude of pockets, and his high boots were a shade of gray. Overall, it seemed like his clothes were specifically chosen to blend with the colors of the caves, if not for the fact that he had a white lab coat over them, and a bright yellow backpack.

"Isn't that also a cliché?" Red asked following the man's statement.

"It is. But if we're gonna follow this path, anything we're going to say could be at its core some kind of cliché. That's why insist on you introducing yourself. It's not like I'm particularly interested but if you introduce yourself, then I'll do the same to satisfy your curiosity. But... Are our names of the same value? Maybe I should bargain. Yet... without any prior knowledge, I don't know what you might have to offer. This is all very puzzling." he was speaking more to himself than to Red.

"My name is R..."

"I'm Sven. Sven Herberts."

Red was so surprised by that interruption that he wasn't sure if the man didn't hear him start his sentence or if he did and decided to do it in order to be funny, or because of some sense of pride that could come with being the bigger man and giving in.

"I... I'm Red."

"Of course you are." the man responded while adjusting his glasses.

"I don't... What?"

"Exactly. "What?" is the question of the day." he said before spinning on a heel and pointing at Red "What are you doing here?!"

"Why are you yelling?" the boy said while looking around to make sure that the man's voice didn't attract the attention of any wild Pokemon.

"How rude! I just have a rather loud voice!"

"You didn't..." it was at that point that he realized that he shouldn't let himself fall into another trap or he would probably spend the whole day trying to talk to this person "I'm on my way to..."

"Don't care!"

"You don't?!" Red almost tripped while taking a step back from surprise.

"I see what's going on. You want to know what I'm doing here. You want to know how I saved you from these Pokemon. You want to know what they were. You want to know where I bought these stylish glasses." it seemed like he stopped talking and was waiting for Red to respond, but he quickly added "Celadon City Department Store. 4th floor. There was a great sale."

The teenager decided to keep quiet, hoping that the man would keep on talking, which could lead to him finally saying something useful.

"I'm an amateur archeologist. I could be a professional already but I was kicked out of the university. Their complaints were that I can't work in a group and that I can't focus on anything for longer than a while. The thing is, if I knew how small-minded they were, I would have quit before being kicked out. None of the people there seemed to understand..."

He stopped and let down his head. Even though he was speaking fervently just a moment ago, he looked almost heartbroken.

Red didn't know how to react and even though he felt he would regret it, he felt the need to ask "What did they not understand?"

"I... Nooo. You're probably not going to..."

"Try me."

"How much do you know about Puodtrians?"

"Pu-what?"

"Exactly!" the man exclaimed while lighting up "How much do any of us know about them? What about the Iggrian wars or the way Edilo the Fourth cared about his hands in order to sign the pact of non-aggression. And what of his son? Was he really able to see all the colors thanks to a special ocular device even though he was born with the ability to perceive only the shades of yellow?"

With each question, he would make some exaggerated motion. After some time, it looked almost like a dance.

"You're kinda losing me here. I've never heard about any of those things."

"That's the point, my boy. This world has existed for millions of years. But most people don't even care about the recent history. Those guys at the University, they prefer to choose one part of history, or even one person and devote their whole lives to studying it. But that's simply not enough!" he slammed his fist into a wall, but it didn't seem like he felt any pain since he continued on talking "I want to learn it all! Even it it's not possible, I'll do my best. And who knows... I'm hoping that future will help us learn about the past. If there ever exist a machine that could connect the brains of all the archeologists in the world and allow them to share they knowledge, what would show up would be a much clearer map of history. Doesn't that just fill you with excitement?!"

Red was about to respond but was interrupted by a loud noise coming from his belly.

"Hmm. Speaking of "filling"... It seems like it's time for lunch." Sven rolled up his sleeve to look at a watch while saying this.

"That's the thing... I don't want to impose but I've been without anything to eat for a couple days... I don't care about myself but my Pokem..."

"No problem. I still have around 30 capsules with me." after saying that, the man handed the boy what looked like a pill.

He looked at it with suspicion but decided to risk it.

"I don't know how one little... Wait a minute... What's happening?"

"They're one of many things I learned about while studying for my expeditions. They take a long time to make but when they're done I get a big batch. And just one of them will make you fell like you've eaten a decent dinner."

"Yeah. I feel it. Ah... Can I have 5 more?"

"Sure. Here you go."

. . .

Sometime later, after all of Red's Pokemon regained their strength thanks to Sven's capsules, the archeologist agreed to showing the boy the way towards Lavender Town. As they kept travelling throughout the underground labyrinth, the boy realized that he would probably starve there to death, trying to find his way, if it wasn't for his new acquaintance.

"So what were those things that you threw at all the Kabutos and Omanytes?" he asked the man out of curiosity.

"They're small bags filled with my own mix. It's the fragrance of a lethally poisonous mushroom combined with some excrement from a Rhyhorn."

"Ughh... I shouldn't have asked. But you must know a lot about Pokemon to make such things."

"Pokemon are a great part of history. I don't limit myself to learning about humans. I want to discover everything there is to know about how Pokemon species changed over time too. That's why I'm in this cave. You know about Pokemon fossils, yeah?"

"I..."

"They're these rock-like things which are actually ancient Pokemon who went to sleep to survive some kind catastrophe. Nowadays, there's technology that allows us to bring them back to life. But these ones here are different. They're descendants of those ancient Pokemon never turned into fossils. That makes them a big unknown. And since most archeologists aren't Pokemon trainers, it's hard to learn anything about these ones."

"But you aren't a Pok..."

"I will be. The truth is that I plan to take part in, and win, the Pokemon League in order to get the funds which will allow me to travel to other regions and learn their history. I don't have any Pokemon yet but I know a lot about them so when the time comes, I'm sure I'll be able to use my brains to get to the top."

Red put his hand in front of the man to stop him.

"You realize that it means you'll also have to fight me? And I've already got a head start." he said while proudly showing off the badges he got at that point.

"This doesn't mean anything. I don't have time for battling Gym leaders so I've decided to take a short cut. There's a test which allows you to take part in the League as long as you get 100% on it." the man responded and they both started walking again.

"A test... But like..."

"A written one."

"So something boring. Yeah, that's not for me."

"I suspected you would say that. No offense but you don't seem like someone very br..."

The archeologist stopped after his face hit the ground. As he started getting up while trying to stop a nosebleed, he looked back to see what it was that caused him to fall down. He looked a little scared after realizing that it was another Kabuto, and this one didn't seem any nicer than the ones they saw before. Red helped the man stand up and they quickly realized that either the same, or another, swarm has surrounded them again. They jumped over a group of the ancient Pokemon and started running away as quickly as possible, with the small army following them without a pause.

"Don't you have any more of those sachets?!"

"I do! But they're all in a sealed bag in my backpack! I can't stop to take them out!"

They continued running for a couple minutes and it looked like the group of Pokemon was getting closer and closer. When they saw a light at the end of a tunnel, they thought it was the exit, but instead they found themselves on a narrow, stone bridge which stood on a couple great pillars, hanging high above the floor of a giant cavern. While looking towards a giant opening in the ceiling of the cave, through which the light was able to reach them, Red realized that there was even more trouble in the near future. He saw a big spire with a nest at the top. The echo of them and the swarm of Pokemon woke up the owner of said nest, an unusually big Aerodactyl, which didn't look too pleased about its sleep being interrupted. What was even more troubling was that a bunch of Omanytes managed to move on the underside of the bridge in order to cut of the humans' path. With Pokemon approaching them from the back, front and air, they had to stop and quickly brainstorm some kind of way to get out of this predicament.

"Hey, Sven. I think I have a plan!"

"What is it?!"

"We don't have time! Just do follow me!"

The archeologist looked worried since it seemed like they were just standing there, waiting for the Pokemon to reach them. Aerodactyl got to them first. It tried to knock them both off the bridge with its legs, but it, and Sven, didn't expect that Red would grab onto it. The other one had barely any time to do the same but he managed. Although after the rocky monster took them high into the air, he realized that it wasn't probably the best idea to do what they just did.

"What now?!"

Red started to climb the Pokemon's body till he was able to grab it's neck, which was made harder by Aerodactyl trying to shake him off. He let out Oddish out of his pokeball and woke him up from his sleep.

"I need you to put those guys to sleep!" Red shouted while pointing towards all the Pokemon gathered on the bridge.

Since Aerodactyl didn't understand what was going on, he unintentionally helped them with this strategy by fling over the swarm. Oddish's Sleep Powder caused all of them to fall asleep but there was still the matter of the stone dinosaur.

"Now use Mega Drain!"

"Wait. What did you say?!" asked Sven.

As soon as Oddish enveloped the opponent's wings with its vines in order to suck out the vital energy out of it, Aerodactyl's flight has started to get unstable. Unsure of what to do to escape the pain, it started flying towards the opening in the ceiling, until it was finally above the ground.

"Everyone jump!" shouted Red.

He, Sven and Oddish all let go of Aerodactyl who after losing all that strength fell back inside the cave and crashed into his nest where it passed out. Meanwhile, the rest of them managed to grab land outside, although they still fell a couple meters so it wasn't exactly a soft landing.

. . .

After patching themselves up with a band-aid here and there, and thanking Oddish for helping them, the duo realised that they were on the side of a small mountain. Red jumped from excitement after realizing that he could see Lavender Town not far away. Sven looked down the hole and decided that it would be better to descend the mountain together with the trainer. He also promised himself that he wouldn't try to study any ancient Pokemon without getting some of his own for protection first. Once at the bottom of the mountain, Sven went to a nearby village to rest up for a day or two, while Red preferred to keep pushing towards Lavender.

"Let's never do that again."

"What are you talking about? It was kinda f..."

"Never!"

"Alright, alright."

"But you know what we should do?"

Red smiled since he predicted what the man would say.

"Let's fight at the Pokemon League!" they said in unison.

Even though he didn't completely understand Sven's motivations and reasoning, Red felt like he gained a new friend.

. . .

"Hey, Roger."

"Mr. Alex. It's good to see you, Si..."

He didn't have time to finish since the admin grabbed him by the face and slammed his into the nearest wall. All the other nearby Team Rocket members decided to look away in order to not share in Roger's punishment.

"I heard that you went with Angie on her hunt for M2. Do you think I'm not a good enough boss? Hmmm?"

"No. I was just... I wanted to make you prou..."

"What was that?! I can't hear you over your crying, you..."

He lifted his hand like he was about to punch his underling, when suddenly someone grabbed it to stop him.

"Who the he..." he didn't finish the sentence after seeing the person who did it "Doctor Humane! So you're finally out of the hospital. It's good to see you again, sir. Although I'm sorry about the whole M2 situation."

"Don't worry about that. You shouldn't take out your anger on others." responded the scientist.

"No, I..."

"Besides, I heard about the barrier and even though it may take time, I'm sure we'll be able to get through it and retrieve Mewtwo. Peter is on his way to an old friend of mine who helped in beginning stages of creating it. I hope that he'll agree to help us. He was always able to see things that I somehow didn't so his viewpoint may prove valuable."

After saying that, he walked away. Roger wiped away his tears, thanking in his mind for the fact that he received the sudden help.

"So can I go?" he asked his boss.

Alex responded by taking a big swing and hitting his nose with the back of his fist. The confusion and the nosebleed were enough to cause Roger to fall to his knees.

"Dammit. Peter is once again a step ahead of me." the admin said to himself before leaving.

* * *

I think that when I started coming up with this story I made some kind of rule that there has to be at least one chapter about travelling between each city. This was one of the few that felt like a filler. Since Sven doesn't have Pokemon he was supposed to be a one off character. But when I got to planning the Pokemon League, I started going back through previous stuff and I saw the plan for this chapter and was like "Huh. I guess I'll make Sven be a trainer." The stuff with Team Rocket and Elite Four was added when I wrote this to make things later on make more sense. But the first scene is the one I wanted to put in the previous chapter but forgot.

Speaking of the previous chapter, I had ancedote I forgot to bring up. There is that scene where Red protects Angie and falls on some glass which gets embedded in his back. I probably didn't realize that when writing it, but it may have been inspired by something that happened to me in the past. I wasn't saving anyone. I was just being a stupid teenager. Basically, when I was like 16 or 17, I was drinking alcohol with my friends in an outdoor location known as a popular drinking spot amongst teenagers(I don't know if it still is, since the last time I was there it was empty, even though the weather was great). At some point we realized we were out of booze and we needed to go get some. I was drunk and probably didn't have any more money so I told the others to go, while I would wait for them. I laid down on the grass and probably almost went to sleep, while a pair of girls noticed me and started worrying about me. They thought the sun would get to me and I would pass out, so they helped me up and brought me to a "chamber", which were like those natural rooms formed amongst the trees. They have trees curved in such ways that you can easily sit on them, and there's even two benches which someone brought there. But the most important part of them was the shadow. The girls left me there, not knowing what to do and I stayed there for probably like half an hour, until my friends came back. But during that time, instead of sitting, like I was initially left by the girls, I laid down on the ground, too drunk to care that my shirt would get dirty(With all people coming there, there was almost no grass in those chambers, only dirt). My friends came back, we went to another chamber, spent some time together. I didn't drink anything more and was able to sober up a little and get back home. The next day I had a barbecue with family and I wore a sleeveles shirt. At some point during that day I touched my shoulder and I was like "What is that?" I went to check myself in the mirror and after taking off the shirt, I saw that I had around 50 cuts on my back. They didn't hurt and there was no bledding but it basically looked like I was attacked by a group of angry cats. That's when I realized that when I was in the chamber, I must have slept on a bunch of glass. I guess the moral of the story is drink responsibly. There is another stupid story where I looked like I went through hell, but I probably won't be able to tell it, since it's too embarrassing.

The title of the chapter comes from a video game. I never played it but I think I watched Game Grumps playing it.

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmeleon, Raichu, Oddish, Magikarp.

Badges: 3

Green. Team: Ivysaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, ?, ?.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Bellsprout(Bell), Wartortle(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.


	29. 23: Tower of Thrills

Recommended Music: Kamen Rider Ghost Opening. I finally finished it last week, after like 2 years from when I started it. Kinda fitting that this chapter takes place in Lavender Town. I wanted to do some reference to the series in the chapter itself, but there wasn't a good chance. Maybe another time.

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 23: Tower of Thrills.

"Oh! It's you, Red! You haven't called us in a long time. Your mother was beginning to worry."

Red, who managed to reach Lavender Town soon after parting ways with Sven, decided to have a videocall his parents since he didn't have time to do it since his second visit in Vermilion City. He was lucky that it was a Sunday, so both of his parents didn't have to work. He didn't want to stay in this place longer than necessary, especially since the whole town was giving off a creepy vibe.

"Tell her that I'm okay." he said to his father.

"Tell her yourself. She's..." the man didn't have time to finish the sentence since he was pushed outside the view of the camera.

"Are you okay?! You aren't hurt, are you?!" his mother started asking while getting uncomfortably close to the screen.

"Nooo. I'm not... hurt."

The woman was awfully suspicious of that pause he made "What's going?! Are you sick?! If you don't tell me, I'm just going to be more worried."

"Uuuh... No, I'm fine right now. I had a slight injury when I was in Cerulean some time ago."

"An injury?"

"I fell on some glass and it got stuck in my back. But I went to a hospital and they helped me with that." he answered while smiling shyly.

"G-glass?! Hospital?!"

"I... Why are you freaking out so much? I constantly got bruises while I was playing around with Eevee, yeah? Besides, you must have heard about all the stuff in Vermilion City."

"What "stuff" are you talking about?"

When he realized that his mother didn't know about how he risked his life during the battle aboard St. Anne, he was almost ready to end the call, but his father pushed his mother away in a similar manner to what she did to him.

"Don't yell at him so much. You can see that he's fine, so it's doesn't matter what happened before." he said to the woman once she was off-screen, before turning to his son "What about your Pokemon? Your badges?"

"Still the same as last time. But my Charmander evolved into a Charmeleon. Right now I'm in Lavender Town so if everything goes alright I'll get my next badge in a week or so."

"That's great. I wish you luck. Ah. You probably won't be able to call us once you're in Celadon City, since we're going on a trip overseas."

"Again? It's amazing how you can afford to travel so much and still have enough money for me to afford my journey."

"Well... It's not like you're spending that much. You've still got enough to money to afford some winter clothes, right? Your old jacket probably won't fit you anymore."

"It's not even November yet so I'll wait until I get to Saffron City until I buy a new one. But yeah, I've got enough money to probably last me till the end of my journey." he was confident enough to say that since he already went over the numbers in his mind, several times.

"But at this speed... You'll probably have all the badges in a couple months. Do you plan on coming back home before the Pokemon League begins?"

The boy couldn't tell his parents about Team Rocket, not after seeing how his mother reacted at the mention of an injury "Uuh... Yeah. But not right away. I've made a bunch of new friends during my travels and I promised one of them that I would help them with something important. Although, I think it kinda felt like I forced it on them."

"That's the way of our family. Once we decided on something, there's no stopping us. But I know you'll succeed in whatever it is you want to do."

"Thanks."

. . .

Misty, who was about to close her Gym for the day and go home, was visited by the two people who were assigned to guard the Cerulean Cave and have just ended their shift.

"Hey, guys. How was it? No disturbances today?" she asked.

"No. We've had that one time a week ago where Team Rocket tried to break through the barrier and failed, but ever since then everything has been calm."

"You wouldn't come to me if you weren't worried by something."

"We just had a couple surprising guests. We didn't know if you told them about the Pokemon inside the cave so we decided to contact with you to check if we should be worried." the person responded.

"Yeah. "Surprising" is a good way to put it. I never thought I would see Lance of the Elite Four up close." added the other guard.

"Huh... So, Lance..." she didn't know the dragon master too well, and Brock was the one to contact all the leaders and Elite Four so she didn't exactly know what to make of his visit "Who else?"

"This was even weirder. The Gym leaders from Cinnabar Island and Fuchsia City arrived almost at the same time. While Lance tried to ask us various question about that Pokemon, even though we don't really know anything, the other two just stood there for a while, observing the barrier." they explained.

"It was really tense. They looked at each other and we could immediately tell that there was something between those two. But then they both left without saying a word to each other. Bu neither them nor Lance tried to get into the cave. So, should we be worried?"

Misty kept quiet for a while. She considered it suspicious that Koga and Blaine both wanted to get involved after hearing about Mewtwo, even though it seemed like both of them wanted nothing to do with Team Rocket, when the leaders previously talked about it.

"Misty?" one of the guards said her name since he was worried by the concern on shown on her face.

"Ah. No, no. There's nothing to worry about." she said, not wanting them to get unnecessarily scared "Just keep on doing your job and bringing me any information. I'll call Brock once I get home, and I'll see what he thinks about that."

. . .

After spending a night at the Pokemon Center, Red decided to take a walk around Lavender Town, in order to see what it had to offer in terms of entertainment. For some reason, the air seemed colder than it was on his way to the city. The heavy mist around him didn't help in finding his way around. He stumbled into a crowd of people talking between themselves with worried voices. When he took a closer look, he realized that they were gathered around police barricades set up next to a building.

"Hey. What's going on here?" he asked a random man.

"It seems that someone kidnapped Mr. Fuji." the person responded, visibly distressed.

"I..." Red didn't want to say anything that could hurt this saddened man even more "I'm not from around here. Who exactly is Mr. Fuji? It seems like a lot of people are concerned about him."

"Of course we're concerned. Mr. Fuji is the owner of the Lavender Pokemon House, where he and other people take care of Pokemon abandoned by their trainers. He's the kindest person you'll ever meet... But now... We don't know what happened to him. I overheard the police saying that it looks like a bunch of people went through his house, but there was no blood. So we can at least have the hope that he wasn't hurt. We've been waiting here for an hour, hoping for some good news."

"Are the police in this place really so incompetent?" Red said quietly to himself, before looking at one of his pokeballs "This doesn't really concern me but if we can help..."

Feeling that thinking about it too long would probably make him change his name, he went with his gut feeling and released Eevee from his ball. He signaled the Pokemon to jump onto his arm before he took a few steps back. He put one of his arms forward to help himself gauge the distance with his fingers. After deciding that they were far enough, he looked at his partner.

"We need to get over that crowd and into the house as quick as possible? Got it?"

Eevee nodded before starting to gather energy inside its body. After there was enough, he gave another nod so that his trainer would knew that it was time. The boy took a couple quick steps at the same time as Eevee released a Superstar from its mouth. The attack was faster than the boy but he took that into account. All he needed was to get a good jump by kicking the star. After doing that, he was high enough to fly over the crowd and the couple police officers trying to keep people back.

Eevee made sure that the energy would turn into dust before hitting one of the bystanders. The police weren't prepared for something like that, so they stood there for a while, with their mouths agape, trying to understand what just happened. Red went through the front door of Mr. Fuji's house and as soon as he got past the entrance corridor, he noticed that the house had a bunch of other police officers inside.

"Hey! Who are you?! What are you doing here?!" one of them yelled after spotting the boy.

"I knew I would regret this." he said to himself, seeing that he was about to be surrounded "Eevee, use..."

He didn't get a chance to finish his command since he felt something pulling him backwards. He turned his head and saw a human-looking, Pokemon holding onto his arm with his hand which somewhat resembled a boxing glove. He didn't have time to check for information about it in the Pokedex since it threw him against one of the walls, in such a way that he hit it with his back.

"Hitmonchan, use Ice Punch!"

The Pokemon was so fast that Red had no chance to avoid its attack. He struck one of his hands, and although the force with which he hit wasn't too great, what came after that proved to be the real problem. A ring of ice formed around the boy's wrist, practically gluing him to the wall. Although the cold was uncomfortable, he knew that that trying to break out of it with his own strength would prove futile. Even though he couldn't move, Eevee was willing to fight, barking at the police officers who carefully approached them.

"Can you tell your pet shut up?"

Some of the police moved aside so that Red could get a clear view of the entrance to the kitchen and see someone who gave out a completely different vibe than the rest of them. That person was a man in his thirties, who was balancing himself on a chair, with his legs placed on top a table, while slowly smoking a cigarette. He had long, messy hair, tied into a ponytail and his face looked like it could use a shave. Beneath a long, beige, open trench coat, he wore a black turtleneck and dark-green trousers. The only thing about his look that connected him to the rest of the bunch was that he had the same shoes, although it looked like he didn't take any time to shine them like the others probably did.

"That's enough, Eevee." said the boy.

The dog immediately went quiet, but a look of worry remained on his face.

"So he listened? You've got him trained well." while saying that, the man got off the char and put out the cigarette by using the kitchen sink "That, or he just trust you that much... Or maybe, this isn't the first time that you got yourself in such a mess. Hm? Which is it?"

"Is "All of the above" an option?" the teenager responded, and even though it was the truth, he hoped that it would be taken as a joke which could lead to the eventual defusal of the situation.

It seemed to have slight effect on the man, since a smirk appeared on his face as he was leaving the kitchen. Hitmonchan who patiently waited for his arrival, approached him and bowed which confirmed Red's suspicion that this person was the one who ordered to have him attached to the wall.

"My name is Scott Yard. Detective Scott Yard. If you agree not to cause any trouble I can have you freed from this ice and we'll talk over why the hell you barged into a crime scene. Okay?" he spoke with a rather monotone voice, almost as if he didn't really care about what the boy was doing there.

"Yes." the teenager responed without hesitation.

"Alright. Hitmonchan, use Fire Punch."

"Wait. What?"

"...But go easy on him."

It took a little longer than freezing him but the Pokemon managed to free Red by setting his fist on fire and holding it close to the ice that bound him.

"Now that you're free, you can start explaining what you are doing here. Something tells me you're not a criminal returning to the crime scene but I can't really make a judgement based purely on my instinct. I would. I really would. But I know that one of these smartasses would report me to the Sergeant for doing that." during the last words he coldly stared down all the other officers.

"I wanted to help." the boy responded, while massaging his wrist.

"All these people outside probably also want to help. Yet you don't see them barging in here and getting in the way of our investigation."

"You were just smoking a cigarette while everyone else was doing their job."

"That is my job. I won't say anything ridiculous like "I can't focus until I smoke one" but with all the other guys searching for clues, there is nothing for me to do but think. I don't have to explain myself to you but I'm a pretty nice guy, even if you can't tell by looking at my face. Kitchen was the second place we searched after the entrance corridor and since there were no clues there, it wasn't a big deal that I smoked in there."

"Okay."

"Is that all you have to say?" the man looked like slightly irritated by the fact that the boy gave him such a non-answer.

"Do you... Do you want to hear more? Because, you see, I got the idea that..."

"How? How did you plan to help?"

"I didn't give it much thought until now so it's probably going to turn out that what I have to offer is going to be redundant... buuut... I have this guy." after saying that, he pointed at Eevee who was still on his shoulder "I mean... his nose. It's like 50 times stronger than a human one. I mean... that's just a guess. I don't really know."

"Oh, alright. That's not such a bad idea." the detective seemed genuinely impressed "Expect for the fact that we already have a team of police officers who specialize in this type of thing. We had one of them try to get the scent of whoever broke in here, but they didn't find anything. Almost like they didn't produce any smell. We would have it try to search for Mr. Fuji himself but it's his neighborhood, so his smell is probably all around this place. It would be the same as if we just started searching the whole city at random."

"Can we still give it a shot?" Red asked, with a determined expression on his face.

"If that means that you're going to stay out of our way then sure." Scott turned to one of the officers "Go find something that's likely to give the dog a good sense of how Mr. Fuji smells like."

Finally having some time to look around a bit more, Red noticed a photo placed atop a cabinet, with and old man and a Pokemon on it "Is that Mr. Fuji?"

"Yeah... Wait. You're not from Lavender?"

"And that Pokemon?" the boy asked, completely ignoring the detective's question.

"That's a Cubone. I don't think it's actually his Pokemon, but probably a young one that either got separated from its parents or... maybe they died."

"Doesn't this town have a bunch cemeteries?"

"What? Are you some special kind of stupid? There's not that much of them. It just seems like that since they're quite big. And they're not cemeteries. There aren't any actual bodies there. The person who was the mayor of this town about 200 years before the current one didn't want to cut down surrounding forests just to make space for the dead so instead we have these buildings where we burn the bodies. The family can do whatever they want with ashes but the buildings... we call them "temples"... also serve as a replacement for cemeteries. We have these things that are kinda like gravestones but instead each of them has like a 100 names inscribed into them. People can go there and visited the ones that contain the names of their family members and friends. Recently they even got somebody to digitize all of that so you wouldn't have to rely on memory to find their close ones. Instead you can just put their name into a computer and it finds them for you. Pretty neat, huh? The second building still has a bunch of gravestones that are waiting to be filled with names but they are already building a third one."

"What about Pokemon?"

"We have a separate building for them. We call it... the Pokemon Tower..." the detective was in the middle of taking out another cigarette and he almost lit it up, but something caused him to drop the cigarette.

He looked at Red who didn't seem to understand what was going on, but he felt like that was just a facade and the boy asked him a particular set of questions, in order to steer him towards a conclusion. But that would mean that the teenager was able to find a plausible solution to the mystery of Mr. Fuji's disappearance with only one clue.

Yard couldn't be certain if what he arrived at was actually what happened, but he would field even more ashamed of himself if he didn't follow this lead, than by the fact that Red was faster in understanding one of the possible answers. The instant he decided to check out that hunch, his demeanor changed. Maybe the boy was able to deduce the truth quicker than him, but all it did was light a fire in him. If what he thought had in fact happened, that could mean that Mr. Fuji wasn't actually kidnapped, but it also didn't mean that the possibility of it happening soon didn't exist.

. . .

"So this is the Pokemon Tower." Red said to himself while standing in front of the tall building.

"Stop gawking at it. We have to find out if Mr. Fuji is actually inside." Scott said to him while going through the sliding doors of the building.

He still felt slightly annoyed by the fact that the teenager acted like he didn't purposely put the idea of visiting the tower in his mind, but these feelings were pushed aside when he noticed that the reception desk didn't have anyone sitting behind it. As they walked a little further, they noticed the receptionist lying on the floor. The detective checked her breathing to make sure that she was okay but it seemed like she was simply knocked out.

"This doesn't bode well." stated Red.

"You saying that doesn't help either. Don't you watch any movies? Whenever someone says "this doesn't bode well", shit usually hits the fan fairly quickly."

"Are you getting superstitious because we're in a cemetery or are you always like that?"

"I already said this isn't..." he stopped after reminding himself that they didn't have time to argue, and instead went directly towards the elevator.

It felt like someone expected them since the panel with the buttons was completely destroyed. They had to take the stairs. Unfortunately for them, whoever designed the Pokemon Tower, decided for some reason that each floor should have a separate set of stairs which led to the next one. This meant that when they arrived on the first floor they had to go to the opposite side of the round room to get use the next flight of stairs.

There were barely any people there since it was still the morning, but they still had to stop here and there to check on an unconscious person. Despite that, they managed to reach the second to last floor fairly quickly. Mr. Fuji was still nowhere to be seen but since they ran practically all the way, both of them had to stop to catch their breath. Red was thankful that he decided to call Eevee back to his pokeball as soon as they left Mr. Fuji's house since otherwise he would probably get more tired.

"Is... Is there something off about this floor?" Scott asked out of nowhere.

Red looked around to try to understand why the detective would say such a thing but there was nothing that immediately seemed different from the other ones "I guess... Some gravestones have nothing on them. But that just means that they started to fill them from the bottom up."

"That's not it. There's something else. I just can't put my finger on..." he froze up after feeling something touch his shoulder.

He looked at Red but the boy was on the opposite side and not close enough to reach around and tap him on the arm. He turned his head and noticed some purple substance. He touched with a finger and tried to determine what it was by smelling it. The only thing he learned was that it had a foul stench. He turned towards the teenager to ask him about it but was immediately surprised by two other things. Time seemingly slowed down as he watched Red rush towards him while a mysterious shadow appeared above him. Both of them landed on the floor and although it wasn't too comfortable a landing, Scott immediately understood that the boy wanted to protect him from the owner of that shadow.

When he saw that what almost fell on his head was a Grimer, he immediately grasped that what was on his shoulder, was a part of its body. Seeing the Pokemon also helped him in realizing why he thought there was something wrong with the room they were in. The spot above where he stood had a green ceiling, while the rest of it was the same color as the Poison type Pokemon. Suddenly, a multitude of eyes appeared on the slimy substance above them and a bunch of Grimers started jumping towards the floor, one after another. His keen observational skills were working at an all-time high so he instantly realized that there was a place amongst gravestones that the Pokemon intentionally avoided while landing. He considered himself lucky since those were the ones without any inscriptions on them, which meant he didn't have to worry too much about destroying them.

"Go, Hitmonchan!" he shouted while throwing the pokeball containing his partner in that direction "Mach Punch! As many times as needed!"

Hearing that command and realizing that the attack was to be directed at them, a bunch of Team Rocket members stood up, hoping that they could somehow avoid being hit. Hitmonchan proved too fast for them and easily knocked them out, one by one, with a set of quick punches.

"So it was Team Rocket." Red thought to himself before choosing to take the moments in which Grimers were distracted by Hitmonchan's movements, to make his way towards the staircase leading to the final floor.

"Watch out!" Scott yelled out.

Red turned his head and saw one of the Grimers jumping in his direction. He didn't have time to call out any of his Pokemon. All he could do was instinctively close his eyes. He opened them right after that since he heard a peculiar sound. It turned out that Hitmonchan was fast enough to protect him by punching the Grimer with a fist covered in electricity, sending it into a wall. After the impact, the Poison Pokemon seemed to become completely unstable, turning into a puddle of sludge as it passed out. Scott saw that the rest of their opponents felt uncertain about what they should do so he took his chances and by jumping from one gravestone to another, he arrived right next to his Pokemon and Red.

"What the hell were you thinking?!"

"These guys you knocked out are nobodies. But it looked like they were left here to protect this place from anyone who would try to stop their boss. That means that he or she is up there with Mr. Fuji. And since we don't know what they want with him..."

"...then we must get there as fast as possible. Worst case scenario would be that Mr. Fuji is dead and their boss will take us by surprise any moment. But I don't think we'll be able to go up there unless we beat this bunch." he said just as the Grimers started moving in their direction.

"That's why I wanted to split up! Can't you handle a bunch of moving piles of slime yourself?" Red was getting annoyed since he felt all this talking was pointless.

"I'm worried about Mr. Fuji but I'm also worried about you!" he yelled before noticing that one of the Grimers was about to attack him "Fire Punch!"

The Poison Pokemon jumped towards the detective, but Hitmonchan stepped in front of his trainer and while jumping up himself, and spinning, he delivered an flaming uppercut which caused his foe to splatter on the ceiling.

"You think I can't handle myself in a fight?" Red laughed out loud at the idea of someone having such a notion without even having a chance to witness his abilities as a trainer "Check this out! Go, Raichu!"

The electric mouse appearance caused the group of Grimers to move to the side, which was probably because they were started but it looked kind of like they were making space for his landing. He spun around on one of his feet in order to get a look at what he was supposed to be dealing with and, after stopping, smiled to himself.

"Why does it look so happy?" Scott asked in confusion which he seemed to share with his Pokemon.

"Because we actually have a move prepared for such situations. Raichu, it's time for Iron Tail!"

The Pokemon listened and turned his tail to steel. The opponents got over the initial surprise and all moved towards the mouse.

"Type B! Laser Cutter!"

Raichu used Thunderbolt to send electricity to his tail instead of producing it with the tail itself. This meant that instead of becoming electrified, the metal covering the tail was heating up. The move was a double-edged sword since Raichu had to deal with that heat until the opponents were close enough. It was only seconds before all the conscious Grimers in the room got in the range of his tail. He swung it around while spinning on one feet, similarly to what he did before. This, combined with his opponents' semi-liquid state, caused the attack to cut through them like a hot knife through butter. And Raichu wasn't about to stop after cutting each of them just once. He kept spinning until he was sure that none of them would be able to continue the fight. After stopping and returning his tail to its normal state, he began nervously blowing at it. Hitmonchan was kind enough to walk up to him and use Ice Punch on one of his fists, allowing the mouse to cool down his tail.

"That was something... Uuuh... Are you like a Gym leader or something?" the detective who until that moment considered Red to be just an unusually bright youngster, gained some respect for the boy.

"Nah. I'm just a regular trainer. But now that we're done hereee..." he said while pointing towards the stairs to the final floor.

. . .

Peter was sitting on one of the gravestones while slowly sipping on a small carton of grape juice.

"I'm losing my patience, you old piece of shit." he said after finishing his drink and throwing it on the floor.

He stood up and walked over to Mr. Fuji, who was sitting on the floor, tied up to a stone monument atop which sat a statue of some unknown creature. His face was badly swollen, to the point that he could barely see with his left eye, but the blood that started pouring from his mouth after being repeatedly punched by the admin already stopped flowing and dried up, so he was at least able to speak.

"I told you already... I'm never going to help Team Rocket. I left as soon as I learned that you were the ones who sponsored our research... After hearing about all your crimes... I had to do something to atone... that's why I..."

"I don't care!" the admin yelled while kicking the man in the stomach, making him spit out more blood "I could drag you there by force but I feel like Doctor Humane wouldn't appreciate. That's why I'm giving you a chance. But if you don't want to go of your own will... Maybe I'm taking out my anger on the wrong person."

Mr. Fuji looked up at the criminal, and then at his belt which was missing the pokeball containing Cubone "What?! When did you..."

"You know that pokeballs are pretty sturdy, right? It's hard to break them but it's still possible to damage them enough so that the Pokemon won't be able to get out. I wonder... Even though Pokemon turn into energy when going inside them, they still seem to have the need to eat every day... Let's do an experiment. I'll smash this ball on the floor, then I'll take it back and have it fixed in... I don't know. A month or so? Then we'll see if your Pokemon starved to death." after saying that and witnessing the horrified expressions on Mr. Fuji's face, Peter started laughing out loud "Why the long face? You're a scientist, aren't you? This kinda stuff should be right up your alley. Nothing smart to say? Then let's get to it!"

"Quick Attack!"

As soon as the admin let go of the pokeball, it disappeared from his view. He instinctively turned around since he felt that there was something behind him. Raichu sat atop a stone monument. Aside from the one which Mr. Fuji was tied to, there were two other ones with the middle one having no statue on it. Sitting on it, with Cubone's pokeball below one of his front paws, the mouse resembled a Komainu. It took Peter a second to understand that he heard someone giving the Pokemon an order before it stole the pokeball. He looked towards the door and saw Red and Scott, staring at him with a mix of anger and eagerness.

"You don't look like police."

"We aren't." stated Red.

"Wait. I am..." Yard tried to interject.

"Then who are you?" the admin looked more concerned with the teenager.

"That's not a good question to ask. You don't need to know my name. The only thing you need to know is that I already defeated Alex and Angie. Oh. That makes me wonder, does your name also start with an "A"?"

"So you're the one whose been getting in our way." Peter said to himself after hearing that explanation "I really don't like people who try to act smarter than they actually are. And no, my name doesn't start with an "A", but to paraphrase your own words... You don't need to know it!"

The admin quickly tore of the piece of string holding his cape together before throwing it at Red and Scott. He judged the distance and ran at them, taking out a knife holstered at the back of his belt. He slashed horizontally hoping that at least one of them would be cut, but as soon as they saw the fabric flying in their direction, both quickly stepped back. Peter tore through the cape but his attack didn't stop. He kept swinging the weapon, each slash getting closer to piercing one of their bodies. Feeling the wall behind them, they understood that if he focused on one target, there would be nowhere for that person to run. Thinking it best to take out the tougher looking one first, Peter struck at Scott. Detective decided to gamble his hand in order to save his life. He reached towards the blade and although he wanted to grab the admin's wrist, the blade sunk into his palm. He ignored the pain and smiled.

"Got you."

"What?"

"Mach Punch!"

Hitmonchan, who still was waiting on the stairs, jumped into the room and appeared right in front of Peter. It looked like there was no chance for the man to get away, even if he let go of his weapon and backed out.

"Block!" he yelled.

Although Hitmonchan's attack was swift, it didn't reach its target. The Pokemon, his trainer and Red, all looked shocked by the fact that for some reason the attack stopped centimeters from Peter's face. Hitmonchan got over the initial surprise and tried again, this time with a one-two combo but, yet again, his fists didn't hit their mark. Additionally, he felt as if something grabbed his arms and he wasn't able to pull them back. Peter let go off the knife and jumped back, somehow causing Hitmonchan to be pulled along with him.

The Fighting Pokemon tried to stop himself by kicking the ground, but a second later he was in the air. He didn't understand why, but that was the least of his worries since whatever caused him to go up, also made him smash into ceiling. His subsequent landing on the floor also didn't prove too comfortable. Scott wanted to check up on his Pokemon but when he started to move in his direction, he remembered the knife still embedded in his hand.

"His face..." Red said quietly to himself after witnessing the same sinister look that Peter showed to Mewtwo during their encounter.

"I see that you are surprised. Not many people think about using their Pokemon in such a way. But then again, I'm not like the rest of you."

Red slapped both his cheeks in order to force himself to focus on what he had to do. He looked towards his Pokemon, showed him an open hand and immediately closed it into a fist. Raichu understood that and immediately jumped off the monument, leaving the pokeball with Cubone behind, in order to attack Peter while his back was towards him. He used Quick Attack, but it turned out that the admin didn't need to see where the attack was coming from in order for it to be stopped. After striking with his head, Raichu saw that his assault was stopped by a pair of levitating, purple arms. Peter turned around after realizing that something happened behind him and laughed after witnessing the Electric Pokemon's worried face.

"I would say your efforts are admirable, but trying to attack me with Normal type attacks is truly useless." he stated.

"Thanks." responed Red.

"Wait. What are you tha..."

"Iron Tail!"

Raichu spun around while turning his tail to steel and struck Peter's knee. Although the hands tried to protect him, the force of the attack proved too strong. It not only caused the Team Rocket member to fall on the floor, but also separated him from his Pokemon. Even though Haunter managed to quickly get over the pain, it wasn't sure if it should merge back with its trainer or wait for some other order.

"What are you waiting for?! Attack it!" the criminal yelled while still writhing on the floor.

Raichu cautiously moved away a couple steps in preparation for what was to come. Haunter created a ball made of black energy and hurled it towards the mouse Pokemon, who easily avoided it, causing it to explode after hitting the floor.

"Not that! He's too fast! You'll never hit him this way!" Peter yelled as he began to stand up.

"So it was a Haunter." Scott said to himself while using part of his trench coat, that he cut off with the knife, to stop the bleeding from his hand.

He noticed that his Hitmonchan has also managed to recover from its fall and their eyes met. Now that he knew what they were dealing with, it was clear why their previous attacks didn't work. Besides that, he also understood why the police Growlithe couldn't sense the one who barged into Mr. Fuji's house. Since Ghost type Pokemon are made of plasma, their bodies don't actually have any scent.

"Don't forget about us!" the detective called the criminal's attention to himself "Hitmonchan! Let's take a page from Red's book! Fire Punch in one hand! Ice Punch in the other!"

"What are you...?!" Peter never expected things to go so badly for him "Avoid it!"

Hitmonchan ran at Haunter and although the Ghost Pokemon tried to escape his reach, the double-typed attack managed to reach its target.

"We'll name it Fire Blizzard!"

Since they were close to one of the walls, after Haunter fainted from being hit by the powerful combination, Hitmonchan's fists went on to pierce the old bricks, causing a huge hole to form. Seeing that, Peter quickly moved towards the monuments and after calling Haunter back to its ball, he reached to his belt for another one.

"Can't you see it's over?!" Scott shouted to him.

"It isn't over until one of us is dead in the ground!" Peter sounded more and more unstable "Even if it's not today."

After saying that, he threw the pokeball in such a way that when Dodrio appeared out of it, he was already sitting on it. He grabbed the ball sitting on the monument and signaled his Pokemon to start running towards the hole in the wall.

"No! Cubone!" Mr. Fuji who remained silent for the duration of the battle, cried out in fear for his Pokemon's life.

Red didn't want to allow Peter to escape with the old man's partner. As soon as Dodrio jumped outside the building, the admin noticed the additional weight which caused them to start falling down.

"Let go!" he shouted while trying to kick the boy off his Pokemon's back.

"Give it back!"

"You want this?! Then catch it!" he said before letting go off the pokeball.

Red let go of the bird which allowed it to use its feet to jump off the side of the building, after which it quickly made its way from roof to roof. Although it all happened extremely fast, Red was able to catch the ball. But there was barely any time before he would splatter on the ground.

"Metal Claw!" he yelled the moment he let Charmeleon out.

The lizard couldn't understand what was going but his instincts kicked in and allowed him to turn his claws to steel, which in turn made it possible to pierce the wall of the building. The boy grabbed onto his Pokemon's free arm, but the additional weight made it harder to stop tearing through the old bricks. Red thought about how they were only delaying the inevitable, but there was something which suddenly took him out of that line of thinking.

When he attached Cubone's pokeball to his belt, he accidentally caused another one to get detached from it. While trying to grab it, he unintentionally clicked on the button which released Magikarp. Facing the ground, the fish saw that their end was near but it's resolve to prove its usefulness remained even in such a dire situation. It used Bounce so it could reach the bottom of the tower quicker than the other two. The teenager wasn't able to think of single thing that the fish could do to save them.

Charmeleon's claw hit one of the bricks in such a way that part of it flew towards it. Wanting to avoid it, the Pokemon panicked and let go of the wall. Knowing that they were only a couple meters away from the ground, he closed his eyes. Red was about to do the same when he heard a loud roar from somewhere below. They landed. It wasn't a soft landing and they would probably both have a couple bruises, but they certainly didn't hit the ground. The thing they were on was somehow cold and warm at the same time, while also being kind of moist. They laid there for about half a minute before they were in a state of mind where they could start trying to comprehend what just happened. A giant blue face appeared above them, but even though it looked somehow menacing, the boy got a weird feeling of familiarity from it.

"Magikarp?" he asked.

The Pokemon smiled before turning its head to the sky to make another astounding roar. Scott, Hitmonchan and Raichu looked at that scene, from above, with shocked faces, while Mr. Fuji sat on the floor, crying from happiness that his partner was saved.

. . .

The next day, Red met up with Detective Yard in front of the Lavender Town Hospital. The two of them went to visit Mr. Fuji who, while recovering, allowed only the two of them to be able to visit him.

"How could I thank you, my boy?" the old man asked Red after exchanging greetings.

"This may not sound nice but... I want to learn why Team Rocket wanted to kidnap you."

The senior looked at Scott with a worried expression.

"You didn't tell anything when we questioned you yesterday. Today you're off the record. I won't tell anyone, but I would prefer to know what I risked my life for." the man said while showing his bandaged hand.

"Very well." Mr. Fuji sighed "A bunch of years ago, I worked on a certain project, not knowing that it was being sponsored by Team Rocket, by money they undoubtedly got from the crimes they committed."

"What was that project?" inquired the detective.

"The official name for it was "M2" but my friend preferred to call it..."

"Mewtwo." Red finished the sentence for him.

"How did you..."

"You have to put him under protection!" the boy turned towards Yard.

"Wait. What is going on?"

"I don't know the extent of your involvement in this project..." he looked back at Mr. Fuji "...but if they believe you may be of use to them, I need you to remain safe. Not only for your own good, but also for my friend."

. . .

Somewhere in Team Rocket's main base, Doctor Humane arrived in front of a pair of big electronic doors. He touched the intercom.

"I'm here to see the boss."

"Your visit isn't on the schedule. You..." a woman's voiced answered him, before being interrupted by a male one.

"Let him in."

The room was spacious but there was barely anything in it aside from two desks and a lit up water tank with a couple Goldeens, which was the only source of light in the otherwise completely dark chamber. The doctor glanced at the woman, a bespectacled, beautiful brunette in her 30's, sitting at the desk placed against one of the side walls, while walking towards the boss' desk.

"Did you forget something?" Giovanni asked the scientist without even turning his chair enough to be able to see him.

"Excuse me. I'm still recovering from my injuries so I can't think completely clearly." the man responded, while grabbing his hair and beard, each with one hand.

"I can forgive it this time, since you're the closest thing I have to a friend but I really don't understand why you insist on keeping up this masquerade."

While throwing the wig and the fake beard on the floor, the scientist understood that the boss was able to tell his appearance thanks to seeing him earlier, through the camera in the intercom. The female looked at the floor, wondering if the boss would order her to clean it up after the conversation's end.

"You're right. We're so close to our goal that there's no longer a reason to keep my identity a secret. I wonder how the admins will react after realizing who they've been talking to this entire time." the scientist said while putting on a pair of round, sunglasses.

"Now tell me..." Giovanni began to speak while finally turning his chair around "...to what do I owe this visit, Blaine?"

* * *

Have no fear, dear citizen. I... I don't know where I was going with that... Aaanyway, this chapter was originally supposed to be a two-parter but since I changed a lot about it, it became kind of uneven. I want every chapter to have at least a little action but if I were to split this one down the middle, the first one would probably end with Red and Scott arriving at the tower.

In the original plans this was Peter's debut and he used only Haunter. Speaking about Peter, there's a couple quirks I put into his personality, which I tried to make more clear in this chapter than in his previous appearances, mostly so it would be easier to tell him apart from Alex. I don't know if it came across but basically he's the most cruel of the trio of admins. He's quicker to anger but would preffer it if everything went the easy way. He likes people to know that he thinks he's smarter than them. Definitely the most unlikable of the tree. Also, did anyone remember he wore a cape?

Scott was added when writing the chapter. His name is a play on Scotland Yard. He probably won't appear in the story after this. Maybe some cameo. I gave his Hitmonchan the coolest moveset he could have, which means I'll have to think of another one since Bruno probably also will be using one. I tried to make it so he would be this typical bright but lazy guy. It may not seem so but if you were to reread this chapter, you would come to a conclusion that he's actually much smarter than Red. The improvised attack he did got its name from Inazuma Eleven. EDIT: At one point Hitmonchan does a spinning uppercut with Fire Punch which was a nod to Shoryuken from Street Fighter.

Magikarp evolved. That also wasn't planned. I can't really reveal when it was originally supposed to happen without spoiling the next couple chapters. But looking at the time they spent together, which is around 2 months, it makes sense that it would be ready to evolve.

It probably isn't a surprise to anyone who read Pokemon Special that Blaine is in Team Rocket, but I purposefully didn't describe how Professor Humane looked so I hope there is at least one person who didn't see that coming. His fake name is basically a stupid, layered pun. Humane - Human - Hito(which is basically japanese for human/person and so on) - Heat(when spoken by a japanese it sound like hito) - Blaine is a fire trainer.

There's another thing in this chapter that you'll probably won't take note of, and it basically won't be important for like a 100 chapters or more. But if you think you know what that is then shush, don't tell anyone.

Next chapter will be technically a filler so I hope it doesn't end up being this long.

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmeleon, Raichu, Oddish, Gyarados.

Badges: 3

Green. Team: Ivysaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, ?, ?.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Bellsprout(Bell), Wartortle(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.


	30. 24: Let Sleeping Cats Lie

Recommended music: Shiki Opening 1.

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 24: Let Sleeping Cats Lie.

Blaine didn't want to show hesitation since he knew Giovanni was very perceptive. Despite that, he wanted to remain careful in his wording. One misstep could mean that the boss would dismiss him without listening to what he had to say. Only two second passed when Giovanni got visibly bored with waiting and was about to open his mind, probably to say something like "I'm waiting."

The scientist gathered up his courage and even though he didn't have a clear plan of how he wanted to convey his feelings, he spoke up anyway "The truth is..."

The fact that he said anything was already a step in the right direction. Even if Giovanni wouldn't have anything better to do that day, he would consider waiting for Blaine to speak a waste of time. But since his friend already started talking, he didn't mind giving him a short amount of time to properly choose his words, especially since he knew very well how intimidating he was to others.

"...I'm worried about Mewtwo. No. That's not it. The proper thing to say would be that I'm worried about us."

"By "us" you mean the entire Team Rocket?"

It wasn't a surprise that boss understood the meaning of his words. Out of the two options; Team Rocket or just the two of them, that one was the logical one to think about. But even though Giovanni didn't show it, Blaine began to worry if maybe the boss predicted the reason why he wanted to talk with him and decided to allow him to talk about it anyway, to check if he deduced correctly or as show of courtesy. He could spend the whole day trying to understand what was going in Giovanni's head but he still wouldn't reach a definite conclusion so it was better to continue with what he wanted to say and get at least part of the picture based on his reaction.

"Yes. I mean the entire organization. After hearing about what happened during my stay in the hospital, I took the liberty of visiting the Cerulean Cave. It... It didn't help me in any way. It just made me think more."

"About what?" Giovanni asked.

Blaine noticed that he picked up a pen from his desk and began twirling it around which could be a worrying sign. But he already came too far to give up.

"We never had a set date for the execution of our plan, but Mewtwo was always to play the main role in it. Only one day passed before everything went to hell. Mewtwo escaped, fought against two of your Admins and somehow gained the cooperation of the Gym leaders. Do you see where I'm going with this?" that last part of his speech was in order to gauge Giovanni's opinion, since normally he would probably just give a very short answer, putting Blaine on the defensive.

"Not really." the boss responded, leaving the scientist believing that it was all he had to say, until he continued after putting down the pen "We already have various team of scientists working on it. You can visit them and help out. I would understand if you didn't want to do that, seeing how you're still not fully recovered. We are going to break through that barrier and use a device which will put M2 under our control. It running away was a problem. It being trapped in that cave is a blessing. And Gym leaders... I'm not really worried about them. They have no way of knowing the scope of our plan, and with M2 on our side, none of them will be able to put up a fight. After we conquer Kanto and show them our plans for the world, I'm sure that they will all join us."

"What about Koga? He's the only leader besides me who knows why you formed Team Rocket and yet he didn't join when he learned about it."

"Do you see only the negative side of everything? Koga may not agree with what we're doing but he won't try to oppose us, precisely because he knows my reason for doing it. Even if you know it as well, you wouldn't be able to understand it in the way he does. He's angry at himself because he fears he would be the same as me under similar circumstances."

"I..." Blaine didn't like that all of what Giovanni said made sense, since that meant that there was no reason for his own personal feelings to interrupt their plans "You're right. I feel like a fool for wasting your time with this stuff."

Even after getting a clear explanation from his boss, the scientist didn't feel like his worries lessen in any way. There was nothing more that Giovanni could say to him that would help, so he came to the conclusion that he would have to deal with this problem himself.

"You don't have to feel bad. You're one of my most trusted underlings. I'll always have time to chat with you." he stopped for a while, probably because he noticed that Blaine didn't seem to feel relieved "What are you going to do now?"

Blaine struggled with his himself. Part of him felt like it knew why he was bothered by, but the rest of him considered those thoughts too dangerous and forced him into thinking that there must have been another answer.

"I'm going to rest here for some time before going back to the Celadon City base. Peter was supposed to bring in someone who may be able to help us and I predict that person will feel weird if they know I'm involved in this project yet I'm absent."

"That's understandable. If you need anything, just contact with Resse." he said while looking towards the woman who adjusted her glasses as if to signify that she also heard the bosses words.

"Thank you. I'll be going down."

Blaine bowed slightly before leaving the room. Giovanni's secretary became a little worried when she noticed after a while that he was drilling the doors with his eyes, even after Blaine left, but she knew that it wasn't reason enough to bother him so she remained quiet.

. . .

Sitting atop Gyarados' head, hiding between the tree tops, Red was patiently observing the sky above them.

"I see one! It's way up there!" he yelled with excitement while pointing to a Pidgeotto flying in the distance "Okay. It's time to jump towards it. Let me just grab onto your... hooorn!"

Eager to act, the serpent didn't give his trainer enough time to finish before using Bounce to propel himself high above the forest. The bird seemed to notice that something was moving in its direction, since it glanced toward them. It probably had trouble comprehending what was happening since it stopped mid-air and looked with a shocked expression at the enormous, blue beast approaching it with incredible speed. Red got over the initial burst of air which pushed him down and stood up while climbing up the Gyarados' crest. Pidgeotto came to its senses when the Water Pokemon was already dangerously close. It did a barrel roll around his body and looked back to see if he would follow it. Gyarados wasn't completely sure what happened but his trainer didn't lose sight of their target.

"We need to turn back!" he yelled.

The serpent swung his tail which allowed it to turn in such a way to be facing the bird. Trying to land to bounce again would take too long time and could allow Pidgeotto to escape. To show it that there was no way to do that, Gyarados curled up his body into a spring-like shape which allowed him to use Bounce mid-air. Seeing that even without any wings and despite its large size the serpent could still easily move through the air, Pidgeotto opted out for using its speed to escape instead of trying to outmaneuver his opponent.

Gyarados kept on repeating the same movement and each one allowed him to fly around another 100 meters before his altitude would start to decrease. Pidgeotto took that into account and descended between the trees, hoping that the foe wouldn't follow it. It turned its head to look behind and witnessed Gyarados slamming into the ground without much care. The natural wetness of its body allowed it to slither between the trees without much trouble. The bird carefully chose its path in order to make it hard for the duo to follow it.

Even though Gyarados wouldn't have a problem with taking down a couple trees in his path, his trainer was worried about any Pokemon who could be living inside. The teenager took a leap of his Pokemon's head and quickly returned him to his pokeball before doing a spin in the air and throwing another ball in Pidgeotto's direction. Raichu appeared, immediately ready for action.

"Iron Tail!" the boy shouted while rolling to lessen the damage caused by landing from his fall.

The mouse purposefully swung his tail in such a way that when the bird tried to avoid it, it overlooked the branch that was right next to it and slammed into it. It was a little shook but it wasn't hurt too bad and still wanted to take its chances with running away. Raichu didn't let up in his pursuit. He used Thunderbolt from time to time to try to slow it down and also to give Red a chance to catch up since, no matter how much effort he put in, the boy was nowhere as fast as the two Pokemon. As they continued their pursuit Red noticed that there were fewer and fewer trees, and it seemed like they found themselves atop a cliff which would mean that their target could easily fly away and they wouldn't be able to follow it.

"Strike it down!" the boy commanded.

Raichu saw Pidgeotto preparing to ascend and used Quick Attack to strike it with his head. He didn't account for his strength and the force of the attack pushed both of them over the edge. With the mouse on top of it, the bird wasn't able to fly away and both of them fell down. Red, afraid for their fate, ran over as fast as he could, causing him to accidentally trip and making him fall down much like the other two. The landing was hard but also unexpectedly fast.

After getting up and touching his nose to make sure it wasn't broken, Red started to look around. It seemed like they fell only 3 meter or so. He couldn't tell what they landed on. It looked like some white, square platform overgrown a bit with the surrounding trees. When he walked over to one of the edges, he understood that it must have been a building since he could see what looked like automatic doors a couple meters below. He was so curious about what this place was doing in the middle of a forest that he completely forgot about why he himself was there. He turned around to see what happened to the other two and saw Raichu using all its limbs to pin down Pidgeotto while using his tail covered in electricity to warn the bird that struggling would bring it pain.

"Are you ready to give up, buddy?" Red asked the bird while squatting so it could get a good look at his face.

It seemed like Pidgeotto felt that it would be better to give up even though it didn't look happy about it. It didn't try to move a bit and just stared at the boy, probably trying to check if he wanted to do anything suspicious.

"Don't worry." he said while taking off his backpack to search for an ultraball, a gift he got from Mr. Fuji as a thanks for saving him "After all the times I've almost died because of falling from great heights, I decided that I desperately need a Flying type Pokemon. Gyaradosss... doesn't really make me feel any safer. I'll need to evolve you as fast as possible if I want to use you for flying so be prepared for lots of training."

Pidgeotto didn't seem to understand what the teenager was talking about but it at least didn't feel any evil intent. In the position it was in, letting itself get caught seemed like the easiest choice. Red lightly tapped the bird's beak with the ball and caught without the button flashing even one time. After acquiring his new Pokemon, Red checked the Pokedex to learn that it was the first female in his team and to look up what other useful abilities it had besides flying.

"We should get down from here. Probably the easiest way would be this..." after saying that he once again released Gyarados from his ball and instructed him to act as something like a slide or a staircase that would take Red and Raichu towards the ground.

Curious about the mysterious building, the teenager had to put the Water Pokemon back in his pokeball since the doors were too small for it. He observed it for a while from the outside. He couldn't tell what it was made of since it didn't look like it was metal but the wall were perfectly flat and had a square pattern. There were no windows but judging by height the building could have 3-5 floors. Between the trees he could see something that looked like it could be producing electricity for the building, protected by a chain link fence from all sides.

After checking out everything he could learn about this place from the outside, he approached the automatic doors. To his surprise, they still worked. Seeing how overgrown it was, he suspected that it may have been abandoned but maybe whomever it belonged to just couldn't afford a gardener. The inside was very similar to the outside; a white corridor with two lines of lights on the ceiling. As soon as he stepped into the building he felt that he stepped into something and looked down to see earth spilled from a knocked over plant.

As he explored further, he saw claw marks on some parts of the walls and various scraps of white fabric and damaged, small electronic devices. He and Raichu walked forward while trying to decide which of the many identical doors they should go through to explore further. It looked like they had descriptions written on them but the letters were too faded to be read. The mouse ran ahead and called his trainer to show him something. It was a smear of blood on the floor. It was hard to tell how long it was there but after touching it the boy was sure that it at least wasn't fresh. That didn't mean that whomever or whatever spilled it wasn't still in the building. Red signaled Raichu to keep close in case someone or something would try to attack them.

"Let's try this one." he said to the electric Pokemon after reaching the door furthest from the entrance.

He made sure not to walk too close to any of the previous ones since they were all automatic. He had to stand right before these final ones in order for them to open. He was about to take his first step into the next room but stopped since he noticed in time that the doors were malfunctioning and wouldn't slide open completely. He had to push them back with his hand in order to get inside. After looking around he saw that the room he found himself in was full of empty cages in various sizes. There were even more signs of some struggle than in the corridor. Some cages looked like they were melted while other were completely in pieces, which made walking through the room harder.

"What the hell happened? There were definitely some Pokemon here, but for what reason?" he said, more to himself than to Raichu, although both of them were equally worried about the mystery of this place.

After going through another door, Red found what looked like a storage room which must have been the place where the food for the Pokemon was kept, judging by a bunch of empty, torn bags. There were also some bowls. After counting them up, he could tell that there were as many of them as of the cages which led him to believe that each one only housed a single Pokemon. Since there was nothing else in the room, he had to backtrack to the main corridor. Wondering which door to try next, he forgot to watch his step and tripped on a piece of equipment. He was about to get up when he saw a hand reaching towards him. Not knowing what it meant, his instinct was to stand up and jump back as quick as possible.

"Oh. Are you alright? You shouldn't get up so fast if you aren't sure you didn't pull something." said a soft voice with a slight southern accent.

Red wanted to remain careful even after seeing whom it belonged to. It was a short, dark-skinned woman. She had hazel eyes, full lips, puffy bronze hair sloppily tied into a side ponytail. She wore red sneakers, light overalls, a sleeveless grey undershirt, an open, worn out lab coat and a big backpack. The thing that immediately caught Red's attention was that she was quite dirty, not only her clothes, but her hands and face too. It calmed him down that it at least wasn't blood. She seemed to notice that he was staring at her, since she also looked at her hand as she was retracting it.

"Oh. My bad. I haven't been properly taking care of myself since I don't really have any guests." she explained before going into deep thought "But what should I do? I don't think the water system is working. Even if it did, I'm not sure if we have any clean towels. There should be some lab coats but..."

She stopped herself since she thought that it would be rude to keep talking to herself while Red looked like he wanted to ask her something.

"Yes. Do you have a question?"

"Yeah. In fact, a bunch of them. But for now let's start with the most basic one so that I can put my mind at ease,,, What happened here?"

"Oh. You're skipping ahead. I thought you would ask who I am or what is the purpose of this place but you went straight for that. Yesss. That's definitely the most interesting matter." she sounded like she didn't really want to talk about this matter "There was an accident. That must be obvious, right? A bunch of angry Pokemon escaped from their cages after not receiving a proper amount of sedatives. Many of my co-workers were hurt but thankfully there were no deaths. Now it's just me and Sekhmet left."

"Sekhmet?"

"It's a female Persian."

"You don't keep her in a cage?" Red asked while nodding towards the room he visited.

"Oh. I do. But she has her own room now, right next to mine so that I can keep a close watch on her." realizing that it could be misconstrued, she added "To help her in case something happens."

"Now that I know that there's no danger..." the boy said while putting emphasis on the last two words "...do you think I could take a look at Sekhmet?"

"I'll gladly show you around and answer all your questions but as I said, I'll have to find some way to clean myself. There's a pond nearby so I'll search for some towel and clothes and wash up. Could you wait here in the meantime?"

"You're awfully trusting." Red slipped up without thinking.

"I guess I am."

"Then I'll try to trust you too. Go, Charmeleon."

The woman didn't seem too shocked by Red suddenly letting the lizard out of his pokeball, but she still looked at the boy with a face demanding an explanation.

"It's quite cold outside. I'm not even sure how you can go out in the clothes you're wearing right now without freezing but going into cold water won't be good for you. Charmeleon can heat it up for you beforehand. You can tell him to turn around when you're bathing if you're embarrassed."

"Oh. That's so thoughtful. Thank you so much." she responded while bowing way too much "I promise it won't take long."

"Oh. I'm Red, by the way."

"My name's Nihaya." she said before going through one of the doors to search for clothes.

. . .

It took almost an hour, during which Red and Raichu got tired enough that they decided to find a part of the floor clean enough to comfortably sit down, before Nihaya and Charmeleon returned.

"Sorry that it took so long." he heard her voice as he was about ready to take a nap.

When he looked at her, he noticed that she had a new lab coat, although this one was closed. It didn't seem like she was wearing any pants and her hair was down. A quick assessment of the things she was carrying caused him to reach a worrying conclusion. He looked at Charmeleon as if he wanted to get a confirmation by simply looking at his face but the lizard responded by shrugging, possibly signifying that he didn't want to give his trainer any clues. He was, after all, his partner long enough to understand how Red's mind worked.

"Is something the problem?" the woman asked after noticing the exchange between the two of them.

"Please, don't tell me that you're naked under there." the boy said while blushing and looking away.

"Okay. I won't." she said, seemingly giving it no thought, before walking over to the backpack she left on the floor.

"But also, please do tell me if you are since I think the curiosity will use up too much of my brain space to focus on other things."

She picked up the backpack and looked at him with an empty expression "You're really a kid, aren't you?"

"Wha-?" he felt even more embarrassed after hearing that.

"Don't worry about it. I have underwear on but I didn't have any spare clothes so I washed these. I thought Charmeleon could help them dry but he almost set them on fire so I'll just hang them somewhere before we go visit Sekhmet." she explained.

. . .

As they walked towards the room in which resided the cat, Red decided to begin questioning the woman again "So what is the purpose of this place? You said something about angry Pokemon and sedatives."

"Yes. Right now the place is abandoned but before there was around a dozen people working towards a common goal."

"And that goal wasss...?"

"Calm down. I'm getting there." she jokingly furrowed her brows while glancing at him "Do you know how durable are Pokemon?"

"I... No. I mean... They're more durable than humans. I think you could at least that much."

"Wellll... It differs from one Pokemon to another but yes. Even though Pokemon can feel the pain from a punch, a knife, a gun, it's still hard for their bodies to actually receive any wounds. And they can be healed a lot quicker than humans thanks to the existence of Pokemon Centers. That's why when talking about being a Pokemon doctor, people focus a lot more on the mental side of things than at the physical."

"So this place is like some hospital for Pokemon with mental issues?"

"Kinda." she said, looking slightly worried, right as their reached their destination.

She slowly approached the door and, after they slid open, took a peek without walking inside. She was about to take a step when it seemed like something came to her mind. She looked towards Red and quietly signaled him to put Raichu and Charmeleon back in their pokeballs. He did it without a protest and the two of them went inside the room. The teenager's attention was immediately caught by a cage, much larger than the other ones, taking up about 1/3 of the room. Nihaya dragged him by his arm, wanting to keep him a safe distance from it.

Sekhmet seemed to be sleeping so the woman carefully pulled up two chairs and sat with the boy at the opposite side of the room. There was various equipment there but it was all placed along the walls so they had a clear view of Pokemon. Since it seemed Nihaya wanted him to keep quiet until the Persian would wake up, he took that time to take in as much visual information as he could. There lots of scratches on the walls and the floor and even on the bars but it seemed like Persian was a Pokemon specializing in physical attacks which weren't enough to allow it to escape. She had a round, torn up bed, a half empty bowl of water, and another one with what looked like leftovers of some canned food.

"She was the only one who didn't escape during the accident. I saw that as a glimpse of hope and decided to stay even though the government cut our research money and all the others left." Nihaya said quietly.

"I'm still not completely sure of what it is you're trying to achieve here. It just seems like you've made all these Pokemon angry."

"What?! No! Quite the opposite!" she was so offended by his remark that she raised her voice and stood up while clenching her fists.

That was enough for Sekhmet to wake up. At first, she opened one eye to check what it was that disturbed her sleep and closed it back again as if she didn't care about the two humans. She put her front legs forward and, while scratching the floor, stretched her body. After that, she slowly got up and used her tongue to clean some food that was sticking to the side of her mouth.

"How are you feeling, my dear?" Nihaya asked while slowly advancing towards the Pokemon.

The Persian leered at her as soon as it saw movement. She took a couple steps back, until she felt the wall which served as one of the sides of the cage, before lunging towards the bars that separated her from the others. She hit her head but acted like she didn't feel any pain. She kept on trying to reach the woman while scratching and biting the metal and didn't seem to even consider the idea that maybe she wanted to do the impossible.

Since it didn't look like they were in any danger, Red thought it was a good time have Nihaya give further explanations about her job "So if that's not your fault, what happened to her?"

"Markaija. It's a disease. A very rare one. Only somewhere around 1 in 300000 Pokemon get it. The Pokemon who have it are in an almost constant state of rage and attack everyone and everything around them. Additionally their lives are extremely shortened when compared to other Pokemon of their respective species. In the past there were cases where excessive force had to be used in order to deal with such Pokemon after they came in contact with people. Me and my team offered to help find a cure for it. The government funded our research and built this facility away from major cities in case any Pokemon escaped. After everything went sideways, they sent a police taskforce which caught and put down most of the escaped Pokemon. After hearing about that, I couldn't allow them to try to do the same with Sekhmet. I used all my saved up money to buy this place. Truth be told, I couldn't really afford even one 1% of this place but they must have thought I've gone insane and let me keep this place."

Red felt saddened after listening to that story while also being mad at himself for assuming things about Nihaya before hearing her out, but there was something that he couldn't stop himself from asking "How long?"

"How long? Oh. Around 3 months have passed since everyone left." she said while trying to hide the pain she felt while telling that story behind a fake smile.

"That's not what I meant. I meant how long unt..."

"I know!" Nihaya shouted before the boy could finish.

He felt worried when he saw her leaning down in such a way that her face was hidden by her hair. He pushed a part of it aside to see if she was doing what he felt would be an appropriate reaction after her yell. Tears started forming in her eyes. She felt a little weak on her legs so she backed off and sat back down on the chair.

"Even if you know, it seems like you're not willing to face it. It's probably none of my business but after seeing the state this place is in and what you looked like when I met you, I feel the need to ask it. How long until..."

"No!" she protested while putting both her hands in his direction as if that was supposed to push him away.

"...you find a cure?

"Huh?"

"What? Is that not what you expected me to say?"

"It seems like I was right about calling you a kid." she said while wiping away the tears.

"I'm not a kid!" he shouted, not understanding that her words were meant as a compliment.

Ignoring his irritation, she stood up and walked close enough to the cage where she was just out of Sekhmet's reach.

She turned around with a big smile on her face "I don't know how long it will take but I won't give up until I find a cure."

The warmth radiating from her seemed to even affect Sekhmet since she stopped trying to reach the woman with her claws for a second or two.

. . .

"You really didn't have to do so much for me."

"I can't help you with your research but I still wanted to do something. Anyway, what do you think?"

Red pointed towards a hut for storing wood he built with the help of his Pokemon and an elevated barrel which was to serve as bath, with a sliding system which allowed for easily getting rid of the water without needing to use strength. Nihaya would need to fill it up but as long as it wasn't too cold she could count on rain to help her. It was made in such a way that the wood could be burned in a hole under it, allowing the woman to heat up the water.

"It's amazing. I'm truly thankful."

"Maybe I should train Pidgeotto to carry small packages so that I could buy you some new clothes and send them over."

"No, no. Don't trouble yourself anymore. Please." although she appreciated the gesture she already started feeling like she should be repaying the boy in some way so she didn't want to owe him even more.

"Are you sure? I could..."

"Yes. I'm sure."

"Alright then. I guess this is it." he said before realizing something "Oh. I should see Sekhmet before leaving. Would she remember me even with that disease? Hmm."

"No, no. There is no need. I'm sure she knew that you wanted the best for her." the woman responded while shaking her palms as a sign of protest.

"Okay. If you say so... Anyway... Good luck and good bye."

"The same to you." she responded while smiling.

The boy let Pidgeotto out of her pokeball so that they could get better accustomed while travelling towards Celadon City. The science wasn't sure what caused Markaija to occur so it was important for him to spend as much time as he could with his Pokemon in case something bad ever happened to any of them. He already ran for about a kilometer when he realized that there was something wrong with what Nihaya said before they parted ways. He spent the last two days working on the hut and the bath so he was too busy to spend any time in Sekhmet's room. The one other time he was there, she was asleep. He didn't see her at all the day he left.

"Why was she speaking in past tense?"

. . .

Nihaya slowly walked through the building while grabbing her arms in order to stop the shaking. Tears were running down her face as she approached Sekhmet's room. She had to wipe them away to input a combination which would cause a part of the wall to slide open and allow he to reach the cage from the other side by going into another room.

"I'm sorry."

She looked at the cat laying on the floor.

"I'm sorry."

She took a few steps in her direction.

"I'm sorry."

She kneeled down, almost falling onto the floor.

"I'm sorry I couldn't help you."

She hugged Sekhmet's lifeless body.

* * *

I'm sorry. And I don't mean that as a joke. I actually feel like a piece of shit after finishing this chapter. Especially since I made a couple big changes while writing. In my plans, Sekhmet(named after an egyptian goddess) was the only Pokemon to ever be in this facility and Red met it after it ran away and helped capture it. All the scientists were there, no one was hurt and Red showed the scientists that what they needed wasn't a cure but love for Pokemon. And that's just a stupid story, not matter how you slice it. That's why the story was changed and Sekhmet died. And since this was pretty much a filler you'll nevel learn how her death affected Nihaya apart from that final scene.

What I liked about the chapter is that all the action happened in like the first 1/3 of the story and even though Red catching Pidgeotto is important, it's probably not the thing you'll remember about this chapter. Same with the Team Rocket scene. Although I hope that one will arise your curiosity about what is Giovanni's goal, and his relationships with Blaine and Koga. I think Resse's name is something like half of the word secretary in some language, but I didn't write it down anywhere. Nihaya means "dead end" which alludes to Sekhmet's eventual fate, same as the title which is a play on the idiom "let sleeping dogs lie".

The next chapter is probably going to feature the next Gym battle. I'm not sure how long it will take me. My computer is acting up and I don't have money to repair it so I have trouble with writing sometimes. I'm actually trying to solve it. I finally wrote a new CV and started looking for job. Of course I'll have less time to write if I get a job, but I'll have even less if they kick me out of my house, so wish me luck.

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmeleon, Raichu, Oddish, Gyarados, Pidgeotto.

Badges: 3

Green. Team: Ivysaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, ?, ?.".

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Bellsprout(Bell), Wartortle(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.


	31. 25: The Flowers Blooming in Winter

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 25: The Flowers Blooming in Winter.

It was the second day of Red's stay in Celadon City when he decided to challenge the local Pokemon Gym. The place wasn't hard but once he found it he started to wonder if everything was alright with him. The building was surrounded by a field of white flowers even though it was almost winter. He touched one of them to find out if it wasn't artificial but his suspicions proved incorrect. The shock of witnessing such a thing didn't occupy his mind for too long and about a minute later he already reached the Gym's door. On his way he considered going to a store after being done with the battle, in order to buy himself some warmer clothes and shoes. The automatic door slid open and he went into the lobby.

"Sorry. We're closed. Can you leave?" a voice asked as soon as he stepped inside.

He looked towards the place where there would usually be a desk but there was nothing there, at least not at an eye level. After tilting his head down, he saw a girl with neck long brown hair, wearing a pink kimono laying on a pile of pillows while reading a book. She didn't look up at him, probably thinking that her words were enough to make him leave. Instead, the boy took his time by looking around and seeing that instead of the floor, the Gym had earth with grass and growing out of it. There were some plants growing here and there and multiple other pillows scattered around. This sight reminded him more of some kind of resort than of a fighting ground.

"Why are you still here?" the girl asked with an impatient voice after noticing that he still hasn't left.

"Are you mad at me?"

"Yes. You're still here even though I told you very clearly that we're closed. What more do you want?"

"What does that even mean? Are you closed forever?" he inquired.

"Nope. Probably just for the day. Erika isn't here but we like to hang out in this place so she left it open for us."

"Us?" he asked while looking through the corridor leading to the main part of the Gym.

Another girl, this one had red hair and wore a magenta-colored kimono, approached them while holding a tray with a cup of tea and a small bowl of cookies.

"Oh. We have a guest? Did you invite this boy?" she asked the one with the book.

"W-wha?! Are you crazy?!" she seemed offended "You know I have eyes only for Erika-sama!"

"Sama? Is that her surname? Maybe Erika is just a shortened version of Erikasama?" Red pondered quietly.

"So what's your deal?" the girl in magenta asked after putting down the tray in front of the other one.

"I came here to challenge this Erikasama. I think. It sounds like she's the Gym leader." the boy responded.

"Didn't she tell you that she isn't here?" the magenta one asked while pointing at the pink one.

"I did! And he's still here!"

"She started by asking me to leave. I just wanted to hear an explanation. I was just surprised since I never... Wait... I did. Well, that doesn't matter. I'll return here tomorrow if she's not here."

"Sorry for the trouble." the magenta girl said while bowing a little.

"And never come back!" the pink one yelled out when the boy began leaving.

The other girl looked at her friend with irritation and, as soon as the doors closed behind Red, she leapt towards her friend in order to punish her for this kind of attitude.

"Wait! You'll spill the tea on my book!" was the last thing the boy heard before walking away from the building.

. . .

"Aren't you Professor Oak's grandson?"

Green, who was at that time busy with reading a newspaper while sitting on a couch in a Pokemon Center, looked at the old woman who approached him to ask the question.

"My name is Green..." he said after letting out a sigh "...Although yes, Professor Oak is my grandfather. Are you a fan or something?"

"Is it that obvious?" the woman asked while touching her cheek as if she was trying to show that she was embarrassed, even though the boy could tell that she did so jokingly "I remembered seeing you in one of those shows they had your grandfather on. You helped him with showing how... what was it again? I can't remember. But anyway, it must be amazing to have someone so famous and smart as your grandfather. If I could..."

"Do you have some business with me?" Green interrupted while giving her a cold look.

"Oh! Yes. Since you're his grandson you must have at least a fraction of his knowledge about Pokemon. My dear Lico disappeared somewhere and I need help finding her." she said while taking out a picture of a Mankey from her purse "I asked the police to help me search for her but it seems like there's been a lot of cases of Pokemon disappearing around the city in the last couple weeks, so they're helpless. I'm ready to pay any amount if you help me find her!"

A couple people in the Pokemon Center looked in their direction after the woman raised her voice so the teenager put his pointing finger in front of his nose to let her know that she shouldn't be so loud.

"I don't need your money. I'm his grandson after all." he said after standing up "But I can look around for your Pokemon, although I can't promise anything. It's still early so I'll start searching right away."

He put the newspaper in his bag before starting to walk towards the exit.

"Oh." the woman was surprised by how quickly he accepted but she still bowed as much as her old age allowed her "Thank you so much... uuh..."

"My name is Green." he repeated his introduction before leaving.

He returned shortly afterward since his attitude made him forget to ask questions that could help in finding the Pokemon.

. . .

"I guess this is the place."

After asking around various people in order to find a good place to buy himself winter clothes, Red learned that the best place to visit was the Celadon Department Store. According to the locals the shop had everything a person could ever ask for. Standing in front of the massive structure with several stories, the boy started to believe that to be possible. Thankfully, the first floor had a reception desk at which one could receive a free map of the whole place. Unfortunately, as soon as he looked inside the brochure, there were many things that caught his attention, distracting him from his original goal.

"Maybe I should try out one of those restaurants. Oh, they have a wide variety of healing items. Greatballs, huh? They're better than pokeballs and they have a sale, but do I need any if I have a full team already?" he kept saying such things to himself for quite some time before he found something that sounded far more interesting than what any of the other shops had to offer "Evolutionary stones? Isn't that what Eevee needs to evolve?"

. . .

Even during the morning on a weekday, the building was full of customers. After witnessing the crowds around the elevators, Red decided to take the stairs to reach the floor on which he could buy the evolutionary stones. It still took him a long time to get to the place specified on the map since he spent a lot of time looking around at other things. He even stopped to taste a free sample of some expensive cheese from Kalos.

After about 30 minutes of walking around he arrived at the stone shop. He couldn't tell how big it was from the outside but once he entered through the door he saw that it was fairly small, with only a couple of cabinets against the walls, two smaller ones in the middle, and another one serving as the counter. There was only one employee and no other customers. He approached the young man behind the counter, who was too occupied with his phone to notice that someone entered the shop.

"Excuse me?"

The clerk looked at him and for a second it seemed like he saw a ghost. He almost dropped his phone after realizing that Red was standing in front of him. He caught it in time and put it in his pocket before standing up and bowing so much that he hit the top of the counter with his head.

"Good day, dear sir! How can I be of service?!" he shouted while a small drop of blood fell from a wound on the middle of his forehead.

"Are you alright?" Red asked, afraid for the man's health.

"Of course!" the other person yelled while quickly wiping away the blood, making a smear that made him look even worse "Are you interested in one... or maybe even... multiple of our fine wares?!"

"I think I'll be going now..." the teenager said while beginning to turn away, right after which he felt something grabbing his arm.

"You can't go! I haven't had a customer in forever! If I don't sell something the shop's going to get closed down!"

"How is me buying something going to save your shop?!" Red asked while shaking the man's hand off himself.

"Now that you say that..." the man said to himself while not noticing the fact that he was leaning over the counter so much that he was about to fall.

Red closed his eyes since he didn't want to witness how painful the clerk's landing would be.

"But you came here since you wanted to buy something, right?" the man asked while laying with his face down on the floor.

"Kinda... I just remembered that I actually wanted to buy clothes but I got this map and became interested in these evolutionary stones."

"Evolutionary stones aren't the only things we sell." the man said while slowly getting on his feet "We also have some that are just for show. You know... stuff you would buy for your girlfriend if you wanted to go cheap on a gift."

"I... Yeah, no. Just tell me about the evolutionary stones for now."

"A man who knows what he wants. I like that!" the clerk made a swinging motion with his hand bent at the elbow while saying that "Let me direct you toward this cabinet behind me."

"So these are the evolutionary stones? There are five kinds... Does that mean that Eevee can evolve into 5 different forms?"

"What? No. No, no, no." said the clerk "I mean, maybe. I think I heard there are some other ways for Eevee to evolve but only three types of evolutionary stones will actually work on Eevee. If you use Water Stone, it will evolve into a Vaporeon. Thunder Stone will change it into Jolteon and Fire Stone will make it a Flareon."

While listening to the man's explanation, Red checked the Pokedex to see how each evolution looked like. Thinking about evolving Eevee made him feel weird. While some of his other Pokemon evolved already, even if he was to add up the time he spent with each of them, it would be nowhere near as long as the time he spent with Eevee. He was so used to him that making a decision about what he should evolve to would be undoubtedly very hard.

"What about the other tw... Wait a moment. I have this one." Red said after noticing that one of stones was the Moon Stone just like the two he got at Mt. Moon.

"This one won't work on Eevee but it can help you with evolving a Clefairy, a Jigglypuff or a Nidoran, but since you already have oneee... maybe you'd prefer a Leaf Stone?" the man smiled nervously while asking the question.

"The name makes it sound like it would be used for evolving Grass type Pokemon."

"Very perceptive, dear customer. You can use it to evolve your Gloom, Weepinbell or Exeggcute."

The clerk sounded very passionate while explaining all those things. It was obvious he was doing his best to make the boy buy at least one of the stones.

"Weeell... I don't have any of the Pokemon you mentioned so..."

"Wait! You must have something that needs a stone! Maybe a Pikachu?!"

"Already evolved."

"Damn it!" the clerk yelled while kicking the air "What else do you have?!"

"I..." Red hesitated since he didn't want to mention Eevee "I know that Charmeleon and Gyarados don't need stones. I haven't checked whether Pidgeotto or Oddish..."

"Oddish!" the man seemed to instantly cheer up after hearing that name.

He lifted the teenager up and spun him around, almost making him hit one of the cabinets.

"Whaaat isss going ooon?" Red asked right as he felt the rotation was about to make him throw up.

The clerk let him down and proudly stated "Oddish evolves into Gloom! If you buy one of my Leaf Stones, the moment your Oddish evolves you can use the stone to get two evolutions at the price of one!"

"That's... great..." Red responded while making sure that he wouldn't vomit by taking deep breaths.

"Do you have a preference for which one you like? They all work the same but I have them in a couple slightly different shapes. Like this one..." the man said while showing one of the Leaf Stones "...you can see that it's slightly more round."

"I don't care. Any is fine."

"Okay. Like they say, "The customer is always right"." the clerk said before taking out a small box to put the stone into "This thing will keep the energy from leaking outside and accidentally causing a Pokemon to evolve. You wouldn't accidentally want to evolve a nearby Pokemon that doesn't belong to you."

Red, who finally felt a little better, took out his wallet while asking "How much do I owe you?"

"That'll be 2100 gold."

"Wait... Are you serious?"

Both of them fell silent for a long time, trying to understand the other ones thought process.

"Is it too much?" the clerk asked after about half a minute.

"It's not enough! I don't know how you acquire them but you're providing people with a means of evolution that would be otherwise impossible! You should charge them at least five times as much. No one would argue about it and there's a chance you wouldn't have to close down your shop!"

"Oh..." the man looked ashamed of the fact he didn't realize that "Alright. Then that'll be 21000 gold."

"Wait, wait, wait. You don't have to put this new price in effect right now... Also, I feel like your math is off."

"I'm playing catch up. Give me a break."

"How about giving me a deal. I helped you come up with this idea. Maybe you can lower the price by 50% this one time?"

"That's a deal." the man said with a smile while grabbing the money from the boy's hand.

. . .

While exploring the rest of the floor he was on, Red noticed a stand selling sweet buns so he stopped there to buy one for himself. While eating it he came up with an interesting idea, a way to motivate one of his Pokemon, the one who always acted like he would rather sleep all day than take part in Pokemon battles. Oddish could be relied on in battle but the boy imagined how much the Pokemon could improve if he had something to work towards. Charmeleon was a natural fighter, Raichu acted like all his fights were a way to improve his standing as the centerpiece of Red's team, Eevee and Gyarados just wanted for their trainer to be happy. He still didn't have a good feel of what Pidgeotto was like but he suspected that even the newest addition had a better attitude than the Grass Pokemon.

"Come out, Oddish."

He had to grab the Pokemon's leaves, as soon as he went out of his ball, since he was asleep and would most likely hit the floor if the boy didn't react in time.

"Wake up, buddy." he said while shaking the Pokemon around.

As soon as Oddish opened his eyes, he seemed to focus them on something else than his trainer's voice or face. He swung his body and escaped Red's grasp in order to fly towards the boy's other hand in which he held the half-eaten sweet bun. He spread his mouth to swallow the entire thing while Red let go of it to not have his hand covered in the Pokemon's saliva. Oddish landed on the floor and turned towards his trainer with a satisfied expression which could also mean that he wanted to eat another one. Instead, the boy bent down and picked him up while stretching his cheeks.

"I'm not mad that you ate it, but next time make sure to chew instead of swallowing things whole. Even if your face is kinda elastic I don't know if I could help you if you started chocking on something like that. Got it?"

He wasn't sure if the Pokemon understood the message. He did nod, but his expression of joy after eating the bun didn't seem to change.

"Alright. Never mind." he said before putting Oddish down "The important thing is that the bun wasn't the reason I called you out of your pokeball. I have something to show you."

Thinking that it was another thing he could eat, Oddish stood at attention while Red took off his backpack to take out the box containing the Leaf Stone.

"See this thing? If you work hard, not only during the battles but also during our trainings, you will evolve into your next stage. Then, using this stone you will be able to achieve even greater power. Do you understand what it means?"

Seeing that the Pokemon looked like he thought the stone was edible and was about to try eating it in the same way he ate the bun, Red quickly closed the box and put it back. Oddish didn't protest but he still looked confused by his trainer's actions.

"How can I explain it to you in such a way that you would understand?" pondered the young man.

. . .

"I thought that climbing to some high place would allow us to spot that Mankey. If she's in a city it would make sense that she would spend her time on rooftops but..." Green lamented that his search proved completely unsuccessful "We checked the major parks but with all the leaves gone, it wouldn't even make sense for her to hide amongst trees. What do you think? Have you been able to catch her scent?"

He was sitting on a bench in some quiet part of the city. Besides him was a Vulpix he caught since he parted ways with Red. The fox shook its head, signifying that it also didn't find any clues about their targets whereabouts.

"It's possible it left the city but... the thing I'm worried about is that the lady said that this isn't the only case of a Pokemon disappearing. But even if someone's kidnapping them, how would I learn anything about it. I could probably try to get some information in like a bar or something. That's what they do in the movies. But is anything even open at this hour?" right as he finished speaking, he suddenly lost his vision.

Without panicking, he quickly realized that a piece of paper landed on his face. It was an advertisement for the biggest casino in Kanto, located in the middle of the city he was currently in.

"Celadon Palace, huh? And it's open 24/7. Well, it's better than waiting till the evening for the bars to open."

He hid the advertisement in his pocket and stood up before putting Vulpix back in its ball. He hasn't ever been in a casino but he didn't imagine that Pokemon were allowed inside.

. . .

While trying to come up with a way to explain to Oddish what he wanted from him, Red almost bumped into someone. Having done so a couple times during his travels, he learned to naturally dodge. That didn't completely work since it only made him walk into the person standing right next to the one he was trying to avoid.

"I'm sorry. I..." he started apologizing without looking at who it was.

"You should be sorry you... you... It's you!"

"Huh?"

He looked up and realized that it was the girl in the pink kimono he met in the Gym a couple hours earlier. He didn't recognize her at first since she changed into a turquoise one with an orange maple leaf pattern. When he turned his head he saw that the other girl was the person he tried to avoid. She also changed her kimono, now sporting a yellow one with a gray circle pattern on the upper left part.

"Fancy running into you here. We never really introduced ourselves, probably since it seems like you've already set your eyes on Erika. My name is Kanna." said the latter one.

"What do you mean by "set your eyes on Erika"?! Just you try to lay a hand on her and I will kick your ass." added the former one.

"Her name is Sumire. Don't mind her."

Red immediately got Déjà vu since in some ways the girls reminded him of Blue and Fille.

"My name's Red. So..." he didn't exactly know if he wanted to have a conversation with them, especially since Sumire seemed to want to pierce him with her stare after hearing Kanna's joke "...What are you doing here?"

"Oh. I thought we were here for the same reason." said the girl in yellow "What I said before wasn't completely a joke. I thought you were so desperate for a fight that you searched for Erika and you managed to somehow find her."

"Wait... What? She's here? Where?"

Without saying anything, Kanna pointed towards a stage surrounded by cheering people which Red must have somehow missed while being occupied by his thoughts regarding Oddish's evolution. On top of it was a number of different girls in stylish clothes holding small bottles with differently colored liquids. Even though he never met her, Erika immediately stood out to him. It wasn't just the fact she was the only one wearing a kimono, a white one to boot, but there was just this air of elegance about her.

"Huh. I've calmed down a little." he commented.

"What do you mean?" asked Kanna.

"It was weird hearing her name so many times and not knowing what she looked like but I'm really relieved."

"What the hell does that mean?" Sumire grabbed him by his clothes while asking that "Don't tell me you've really fallen in love with her after seeing her for the first time!"

"No. Actually it's the opposite. I don't mind someone acting like a wild Ponyta just like you are right now, but one look at Erika was somehow enough to convince me that there's no way we would ever get along, no matter how beautiful she may be."

* * *

Hey. It's me. The guy who can't keep his damn word. We didn't have a Gym battle in this chapter. Red barely even met Erika. But I didn't want to make you wait for a new chapter for too long. I hope you can forgive me and wait till the next chapter for the battle.

This chapter was mostly set up for future stuff. Aside from Red wanting to fight Erika, we have Green returning to the story after like 5 or 6 months(It's only been around 3 months for the characters) and Red getting prepared to evolve Oddish. I tried to subtly hint at a couple other things that will come to play in the near future. We'll see how that works. I have no idea how perceptive you guys are.

The title this time isn't a pun or a wordplay. I tried to come up with something witty that would tie up everything in this chapter but I couldn't so I tried going poetic. Aside from the flowers in front of the Gym, the title refers to Red wanting to evolve Oddish(evolution=blooming) and also to Erika's beauty since blooming as an adjective means healthy and attractive.

Maybe the scene with the shop clerk was too long but even if the character I create has a one-off role, I want them to be entertaining. If it was just Red buying the stone, the scene would be half as long but 10 times more boring. I've been watching Umbrella Academy and everyone on that show is messed up so I felt like doing this type of character.

When it comes to the kimono girls, their names and hair color(their personalities to a lesser extent) are a reference to something. You'll learn what it is in the next chapter since I already came up with a title but you can try to guess in the meantime. I'm not really sure if the meaner one is homosexual or if she's just admiring Erika like a big sister. Maybe both.

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmeleon, Raichu, Oddish, Gyarados, Pidgeotto.

Badges: 3

Green. Team: Ivysaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, ?.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Bellsprout(Bell), Wartortle(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.


	32. 26: Erika Wars

Recommended Music: Sakura's Theme from Super Street Fighter IV. I wasn't a Street Fighter kid growing up. I've mostly played Tekken's III through V and Tag Tournament but even though I'm pretty bad at them I like to play any fighting games. They recently opened a bar in my city which has an arcade machine with around 70 different games, of which there are like 10 versions of Street Fighter and 20 versions of King of Fighters. I haven't seen an arcade machine since like 15 years ago so I got really excited. Now, whenever I go drinking with my friends, I beg them to visit that place just so I can waste more money and maybe learn how to do that helicopter kick with Chun Li.

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 26: Erika Wars.

After hearing Red's opinion of Erika, Sumire wasn't sure if she should be happy or angry. To her, the female leader was a perfect being and she expected everyone else to think the same so the boy's statement took her by surprise. At least there was no chance that he would be her rival in love. Nevertheless, she felt that she should be offended by someone not recognizing Erika's value. Before she could gather her thoughts and give him a talk, Kanna took the initiative.

"Why would you say that? You shouldn't judge a book by its cover."

"Ah. Sorry. I didn't mean to sound rude." he responded while glancing at the other girl, realizing that Kanna's words were supposed to help him save himself from Sumire's anger "It's not how she looks. It's about... the kind of vibe she gives off... I guess. It's very possible that I think that for the same reason that you think the opposite."

"Maybe. I'm just surprised that you were able to form an opinion so quickly. At this point... You can't be sure that you're right in thinking that until you meet her and confirm it."

"That's... Yeah. What is she doing anyway? What is all this?"

"It's part of some promotional campaign for this perfume brand." she explained while pointing towards what must have been the logo of the company located on a banner hanging from the side of the stage "Erika's father is a major shareholder so he uses his power to make sure that she appears in every piece of advertisement they put out. It's not like she needs the connections. She could naturally get those jobs thanks to her looks and charisma."

"It sounds like she really has it made. I'm surprised she has enough time to be a Gym leader. Even though I would prefer her priorities to be more me oriented." the boy commented, a little sour after finding out the reason for why he had to postpone getting his next badge.

"Being a Gym leader is also partially a privilege she got because of her family." Kanna seemed to sound a little embarrassed by that fact, even though it was something she had no influence on "Don't get me wrong. She's a very strong Pokemon trainer. Much better than me or Sumire. She went through a test to get her position but her skills didn't matter to the jury. Her father somehow acquired the rights to the place where the Gym stands. If they didn't accept her, Kanto would have one Gym less."

"I suppose that can be hard..."

"What do you mean?"

"From what you said, it seems like she's good at various things and is doing her best to prove it but her family is too overbearing which makes it difficult to..."

"Shut up!" Sumire interrupted him "Don't act like you understand. Only someone as close to her as one of us two can really understand her. Saying that it's hard for her, you make it sound like you think she's weak. Like she can't handle herself."

"I didn't mean to..."

"If you talked to her... If you would allow her to show you her true self... Only then you would begin to understand who she really is!"

"That's actually a good idea." he responded while snapping fingers.

"Wait. What do you...?"

The girl didn't have a chance to finish since the boy was already gone, running towards the stage, squeezing through the crowd, with Oddish sitting on his arm. Although there was some security around the stage it didn't seem like any of them actually expected for someone to try to reach the models. He saw the moment where nobody would look directly at him and took that chance to slip past them and jump onto the stage.

"Is this thing going to take much longer?" he asked while standing face to face with the surprised Erika who was at that time walking to the front of the group so that an announcer could tell the crowd about the perfume she was holding in her hands.

Trying to understand what was going on, she looked towards the crowd and saw the worried faces of her two underlings. It seemed like she understood that they must have been somehow related to this person interrupting her but her experience was that she should simply ignore him. The people who hired her wanted for her to have a certain way of being that was sure to attract the eyes of the people watching her. If she responded to the boy's question she could risk unwanted feelings interrupting the state of the mind she put herself in for this show which could negatively affect her career. Worst case scenario would be when her father would have to cover for her mistakes.

She took a step forward, expecting the teenager's instinct to kick in and cause him to move out of her way but she found herself in shock when for the fraction of a second blinking her eyes made it impossible to notice that the boy didn't do what she expected. It was too late to stop since she was mere centimeters away from his face.

"Wait. Sto..." he tried to say but was forced to stop when her forehead hit his mouth, almost making him bite down on his tongue.

Both of them reeled backwards almost immediately. Erika was so surprised by what happened that she didn't stop to think for even a second of how she should act to try and save her image.

"Oww. What is wrong with you?" she said while massaging her forehead.

"I gue..." Red had a little trouble talking after receiving the headbutt "I guess it's my fault for getting on the stage but it was your decision to hit me with your head."

"I tried to make you leave, you... you nincompoop!" she shouted while clenching her fists after putting her arms down.

"I'm not even sure what tha..." he stopped after noticing someone approaching him, from the corner of his eye.

He bent down and barely avoided one of the security guards who tried to tackle him and instead landed face down on the floor after flying off the stage.

"Coming up here probably isn't on the list of my best decisions." the boy said to himself, seeing another man jumping onto the stage "I definitely had worse one though."

The security guard tried to grab him but the teenager spun around in such a way that Erika was now between the two of them.

"Can you call them off?" he asked the girl while considering an escape route in case she didn't agree to his request.

"Stop that this instant!" the Gym leader ordered the man while pointing at him, since she saw that he was searching for a way to get around here and she didn't want to risk getting hurt again.

Knowing how important her family was, the security guard backed off but decided to remain on the stage to see how she would handle the situation and to be prepared to resume what he was doing if the intruder tried to do something suspicious.

"What is it that you want? I should punish you for what you just did but instead I'll allow your know to know my graciousness and hear you out. If it's not too outrageous a thing, I will grant you the thing you expected to get by interrupting the show. I want to save what remains of my pride after this humiliation, as quick as possible, and never see you again."

"There is a thing I wanted..." the boy said while thinking about wanting to challenge her to a battle "...but there's a question that came to my mind. Can I ask you that first?"

"Whatever. Let's just get this over with." she said while glancing towards the shattered bottle of perfume she dropped after headbutting the boy.

"Aren't you trying too hard?" Red spoke up.

"Wha-?" the anger immediately faded from her face since, even though she didn't consider beforehand what the boy could want to ask her, the question he posed was definitely a big surprise.

"There are easier ways to do this. It's just my assumption and I barely know you so that's probably not nice of me to say this but I think that you should take a break. I think you're stretching yourself too thin and try not to think about it since you really want the recognition. But that's just my selfish thoughts since you being busy prevented me from having a Pokemon battle with you today."

Erika remained silent for some time. She was too confused to think clearly. Her first reaction was to want to cry but she stopped herself before even one tear came out since, even though it was barely noticeable, her make-up would look bad because of it. She couldn't really be angry at the boy because contrary to what he himself said, it seemed like his words were spoken as if he cared about her wellbeing. That made her consider a thing she couldn't have thought about until she heard him trying to give her advice.

"Did they put you up to it?" she asked while pointing towards Kanna and Sumire.

The girls looked embarrassed when the crowd and the models turned towards them to see what the Gym leader's finger was directed towards.

"No one put me up to anything. I just wanted to have a fight with you and they explained your situation. I probably said too much but... As a Pokemon trainer, I feel like by trying to impress your father, you are disrespecting both your job as the Gym leader and whatever this thing right here is."

"You... Coming here and trying to change the way I live my life. You've got a nerve." she said, her voice growing angrier with each word "It's not your business whether I've got 2 jobs or a 1000!"

"Then why don't you take up tennis? Or become a miner? You think that you're going to get recognition by trying to show off in every possible way? The fact that you think you can show how independent you are while splitting up your time to do various things, just serves to prove how immature you are."

The girl never had to deal with someone besides her father doubting her actions while talking about it to her face so she wasn't exactly prepared to hold a conversation about it, nor would she enjoy having one. She grit her teeth while listening to his words, trying to stop herself from wanting to slap him for his impudence.

"It's fine to be a Pokemon trainer if you're doing it to help you further your true dream. I know a lot of people who are like that. It's also okay to have something as a hobby, but trying to show how serious you are while doing things half-heartedly... Are you trying to make a joke out of the people who put everything they can into the thing they want to be recognized for?" while saying these words, Red thought about people like Blue, Michael and Sven and got angrier than he would ever expect himself to be able to "Who the hell do you think you are?!"

It was only after hearing the gasps of the crowd that he realized he was so blinded by anger that he grabbed the girl by her clothes and lifted her up slightly. Before he could let go of her and apologize for going too far, she also got ahold of him and used that to headbutt him again, this time intentionally. The boy dropped her in order to wipe away the blood flowing from his nose. She decided to ignore the pain coming from the bruise forming on her forehead and instead focused on making sure that her kimono wasn't stretched because of Red. Oddish, who until that time kept quiet while trying to hang onto the boy's arm, began to look worried about his trainer. Meanwhile, the teenager started looking around, seeing that the people seemed to be unsure of which one of the two clashing people they should be afraid of.

"Are you searching for a way to escape?" Erika asked "I forbid you."

"You forb..."

"Shut up! Shut your damn mouth and prepare to take the full brunt of my fury! I challenge you to a Pokemon battle!"

"A Pokemon battle? Why would you..."

"To show you! To show everyone! We have cameras recording this!" she shouted while putting her hand in the direction of the TV crew "If I beat you here, someone who fully devotes himself to Pokemon battles, fair and square, then neither you nor my father will have any right to doubt that I can do whatever I set out to do without any trouble."

"That's fair, but what do I get out of this?"

"You're obviously going to lose but if you need a reason then let's just say that this will count as an official battle for the Rainbow badge. How about it?"

"What are the rules?"

"3 Pokemon. We can both switch them out at any time."

"Alright. But... You want to fight here?"

Instead of responding to him, Erika glared at the security guard and the other models who were still on the stage. Her cold stare made all of them quickly leave. Meanwhile, Kanna and Sumire who went to the changing room hidden behind the stage, returned with something that looked like a long, silver gauntlet holding a bunch of pokeballs inside it. Sumire kneeled in front of the Gym leader while putting the contraption on her arm. Kanna took that time to look at Red who was preparing his own balls. On one hand, she felt a sense of responsibility for everything that happened, but on the other, she hoped that it could help Erika deal with her issues. After their boss was ready to fight, the two girls left the stage.

"Are you prepared?" the leader asked.

"Pretty much. It's easy to guess what type of Pokemon you use." Red responded "Which means you'll have to sit this one out, Oddish."

The Pokemon jumped down from his trainer's arm, looking a little confused why he wasn't returned to his pokeball even though he didn't need to take part in the battle.

"Stop! Stop! Wait just a gosh darn second!" they heard the voice of the plump announcer trying to climb onto the stage before settling for using a set of small stairs "Erika-sama! I came up with a great idea!"

"Tell it to me. But get on with it. I want to mop the floor with this pest as soon as possible."

The man leaned in to whisper it to hear and her frown almost immediately changed into an excited smirk. She looked at Red who was more worried about her new attitude than one she has shown him previously.

"Yes. Let's do that." she said to the announcer.

. . .

A few minutes passed. Oddish kept glancing at a Erika, who was impatiently tapping her foot, while also trying to see if Red was about to come back after being dragged away by the announcer and the two girls from Erika's Gym. Finally, the boy came back, but instead of his usual attire, he was wearing a simple, black kimono with similarly colored hakama and a red haori. Although his clothes looked like they were supposed to contrast with Erika's white kimono, the effect was offset by Red still wearing his shoes and hat. Kanna explained to the Gym leader that they wanted to get him to take these off and put on geta but he refused. As he went back on the stage, Red kept looking at himself, not sure how he felt about wearing something with so much free space. He moved his hands a bunch of times to see if his movement would be restricted but that didn't seem to be the case.

"What's the point of this?" he asked Erika after arriving on the opposite side of the stage to her.

"The announcer figured out that since our battle is going to be recorded, we can use pieces of it in a commercial. Just imagine me defeating you and then a slogan comes up... like... "Sakuramochi. Beats all the competition." Has a ring to it, doesn't it?"

"That's assuming you win." he interrupted her fantasies.

Displeased, she looked at him with a frown "Have you chosen your first Pokemon?"

"Yep. And I'm not gonna go easy on you. Go, Charmeleon!"

"I didn't expect you to. It's time to bloom, Gloom!"

The two Pokemon sized each other up after appearing on the stage.

"Metal Claw!" Red issued his first order without wasting any time.

The lizard quickly approached the opponent while changing his claws into metal but as it was about to deal a blow, it suddenly stopped a couple centimeters short of its target. Unfortunately, it looked like this situation was part of Erika's plan.

"Mega Drain!"

Gloom created two vines which grabbed Charmeleon's arm and started to suck out his energy.

"Use Flame Charge to escape!"

The fire Pokemon set itself ablaze, causing a bit of pain to his foe, before swiftly jumping back and creating a couple meters of distance between himself and Gloom.

"What did that Gloom just do? She didn't give him an order and yet... But it didn't even move..." while trying to figure out what was happening, Red decided to check the Pokedex for information.

Although the boy was quick with his thinking and action, a moment of inattention was all the Gym leader needed "Fling!"

Charmeleon saw something being thrown in his direction and instinctively tried to avoid but his tail was still grazed by whatever it was.

"Stench! It was Stench! What?! Such an ability exists?!" Red was too preoccupied with figuring Erika's first trick to realize that she already began her next strategy.

"Venoshock!"

"Venowhat?!"

Gloom shot out from its mouth a ball of purple fluid which acted as if it was a homing missile and hit the exact same spot Charmeleon was struck in right before. The lizard cried out in pain before falling down to his knees.

"It seems like you can't back up all that big talk. You should at least try or the commercial will be too boring." Erika taunted him before putting one of her open palms up to her mouth "Ohohohohoho."

"Stench makes approaching it dangerous... And that spot where Charmeleon was hit... I get a feeling that I should try to end this quickly." the boy said to himself before looking at the lizard who managed to get up, although still visibly in pain "Are you ready to go on?!"

The Fire Pokemon showed the trainer a thumbs up before assuming a battle stance.

"Let's try a Flamethrower!"

Charmeleon shot out a stream of flames from his mouth and although Erika ordered Gloom to dodge it, the task proved too hard and it was sent flying off the stage, although it did manage to use a vine to grab onto the lighting hanging above the battlefield.

"Another o..."

"No! Those lights were expensive!" the announcer stopped Red before he could finish his sentence.

That was enough of a distraction to lose sight of Gloom who must have jumped down. Quickly surveying the stage, Red noticed the Grass Pokemon running at his one.

"We'll have to chance it! Metal Claw!"

"Acid!"

Although Charmeleon changed his claws into steel, Gloom shot out a splash of liquid which hit the Fire Pokemon's hand and changed it back to normal, making the attack almost useless. Being at that close of a range gave the plant another opportunity.

"Venoshock!"

The attack hit the same spot yet again. Charmeleon was in so much pain that he fell down, although still trying to get through it and continue the battle. Seeing that Gloom was ready to finish him, he instincts kicked in and caused him to use Smokescreen as a defense mechanism.

Not knowing if it was a part of some plan, Erika gave her Pokemon an order "Run away!"

The Grass Pokemon managed to escape the cloud of black smoke but since their view was obscured, neither it nor its trainer knew if it was a last ditch effort or if Charmeleon was already advancing towards them. Busy with observing it, they didn't hear the quiet sound of something approaching them. Gloom suddenly found itself a couple meters above the stage and it wasn't until it cried out that its trainer noticed that the Grass Pokemon was held by his flower in Pidgeotto's feet. The girl was about to protest, thinking that she caught her opponent cheating but when she turned towards him and the disappearing cloud, she saw that Charmeleon wasn't there, having been already placed back in his ball before the boy quietly called out the bird. The biggest question at that moment was whether the lizard fainted or if Red planned to heal him up and use him again later.

"What is he going to do?" Erika thought to herself while biting her lower lip.

* * *

I'm writing this while eating banana flavored Pocky for the first time. Gotta say, I'm slightly disappointed. I've had the regular, double chocolate and the cookies and cream ones in the past and they were all better. Can anyone recommend the green tea ones? They have those and strawberry ones at my local sweet shop but after eating the banana ones I'm already suspicious of strawberry flavor. Then again, banana flavor doesn't taste like bananas(since the original bananas died out or something) so maybe I'm too cautious for my own good.

I've been kinda busy so I split this story up even further. I didn't expect the conflict between Red and Erika to come out this long and I didn't want to keep you waiting. I finally have a job. Well, an internship but still. So I probably will have to slow down with my writing but I'll still give it my best. At least, maybe I'll be able to save up and buy a Switch in preparation for Sword and Shield. If I get one of the games, I'll probably use GTS or some othe thing to get all the starters since so far I can't decide. It's the first time since gen 3 that I like all of them. I'm also in love with all the memes about the female protagonist having a thick scottish accent.

A major change in my plans was that originally Red was going to use Eevee instead of Charmeleon but then I decided that I wanted to make Erika look really strong so her Gloom is specifically prepared since she expects her opponents to use Fire types. Overall, I've given her team a lot more though than any of the other leaders and there's still a bunch of stuff to look towards.

I didn't expect the argument to get so brutal but I like how it came out where you can't really say that either of the characters is right or wrong and even though they're using the Pokemon battle to solve it, from a logical point of view it won't serve as any kind of proof. In Erika's case it's hard to tell if she actually wants to do the thing she's doing or if she just wants to impress her father. Red is more straightforward. He know the value of hard work since he spent years preparing for his journey and saw various other people putting all their strength into working towards their goals. It's basically like if you saw someone whose trying to be a basketball and a football player at the same time. Many people would be impressed, just like Erika's groupies but there would definitely be people, even on that person's team who would disaprove of them not putting their 100% into a certain thing. You can be mad at such a person but as long as their results show that they can do both things at the same time and do them well, then there's nothing to it.

The title, as well as Kanna and Sumire's names come from the video game series Sakura Taisen.

I didn't want the description of Red's japanese clothes to be too long so if you're unsure about any part, be sure to look it up. I just thought it would cool to put him in something fitting the theme of the battle. Aside from this and the suit he wore on St. Anne, I want him to have other one-time only costumes in the future.

Also a shower thought. I wonder if this story will ever get popular enough for someone to make a TV Tropes page for it. I feel like that is when you know that you've made it.

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmeleon, Raichu, Oddish, Gyarados, Pidgeotto.

Badges: 3

Green. Team: Ivysaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, ?.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Bellsprout(Bell), Wartortle(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.


	33. 27: In Full Gloom

Recommened music: Purely because of the associations made in the previous chapter, the Opening for Sakura Taisen. I like the version from 4 the best.

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 27: In Full Gloom.

"You have to break free! Use Mega Drain!" Erika ordered her Gloom which has been captured by Red's Pidgeotto.

"Not so fast. Pidgeotto, let's go!" Red shouted before jumping off the stage.

Unsure of what he was about to do, the crowd parted ways which allowed him to run away from the stage, with the bird following right after him and Oddish also slowly walking in the direction they went.

"Where are they going?" Sumire asked Kanna who was just as confused as her.

Even Erika was so surprised that it took her a while to understand what just happened. Ignoring the worried voice of the announcer yelling at her, she left the stage in the same way her opponent did and gave chase. After running for a while, with various people looking at her clumsy movements since she tried to move her legs more than her kimono would allow her, she saw that Red went through sliding doors leading to a set of stairs. When she reached them, the boy was already out of her sight while she herself was out of breath.

While trying to regain her strength, her fervent feelings kept on pushing her forward. Combined with her wit, they caused her to push aside a couple people while quickly getting on the elevator. Seeing the fire burning in her eyes, the other passengers were too intimidated to try getting off or pressing any button. She determined that the only place that would make sense, if Red wanted to change the battlefield, was the roof, and the elevator should allow her to get there quicker and use the element of surprise to her advantage.

"Wha-? You're already here?!" she couldn't believe her eyes after arriving at her destination and witnessing her opponent waiting for her with a confident expression painted on his face.

"This thing is a lot warmer than I expected." the boy commented while lifting his haori as if he wanted to get a better look at the kimono underneath it.

"Acid!" the girl shouted in order to use Red's absent-mindedness against him.

Realizing that Gloom was about to use some sort of attack on her, Pidgeotto let go of her opponent and tried to dodge it but her wing was still partially hit. The Grass Pokemon tried to position itself in such a way as to not get hurt while landing on the roof but it fell from enough of a high for any maneuvering to be useless. Fortunately for it, Erika took notice of that and pointed a pokeball towards it, returning the Pokemon to safety, before reaching for another one to immediately call out her next Pokemon and continue attacking as quickly as possible while Pidgeotto was still dealing with trying to adjust her flight with one of her wings hurt.

"Vine Whip, Tangela!" the girl shouted.

A blue Pokemon resembling a big piece of seaweed appeared out of a pokeball and immediately shot out one of its many tentacles in Pidgeotto's direction. Red could barely follow the attack with his eyes but he knew that his Pokemon was in immediate danger and reacted accordingly.

"Dodge!"

Instead of trying to struggle by trying to fly to the side or upwards, Pidgeotto decided that it would be in her best interest to close her wings, making her stop flying altogether. By plummeting towards the roof, she was able to avoid the attack which flew right above her head. She didn't expect that her opponent was prepared for such an eventuality.

"You fell for it!" Erika announced with satisfaction.

It turned out that Tangela already shout out another vine right after the first one, this one meant to hit Pidgeotto from below.

"Aerial Ace!"

After receiving this order from Red, instead of trying to avoid the surprise attack, Pidgeotto turned her head towards it and brought her wing even closer to her body, making a much more aerodynamic shape with her body. While keeping herself in such a pose, she spun around and barely avoided the vine and quickly fell towards the roof.

Erika and Tangela both felt shivers run over their bodies since it looked like, instead of fighting, the bird was trying to flatten itself by hitting the concrete.

She was only centimeters from the ground when she opened her wings and, while ignoring the pain, used them to propel herself towards her foe. As she approached Tangela, her flight started gaining an upward motion. The Grass Pokemon tried to protect itself by shooting out additional vines but Pidgeotto was moving so fast that each time an attack would hit, she was already ahead of it. Finally, she reached her target and hit Tangela with her beak. The force of the attack and the way in which she was moving, caused the opponent to be lifted off the ground and thrown, spinning, into the air.

"I won't let him set the pace any longer." Erika said to herself "Sunny Day!"

Although still not being able to stop itself from flying higher and higher, Tangela was able to create an artificial sun above her. The leader was hoping that it would give her Pokemon a chance to gather itself since Pidgeotto would be unable to see Tangela while being blinded by the rays of sunlight.

"This won't work!" announced Red.

Erika realized that the bird somehow wasn't bothered by the light and was quickly following Tangela in the air, preparing to deliver another blow.

Instead of wasting time on trying to figure out how Pidgeotto was able to see her Pokemon, Erika decided to act instantly by yelling "Use Vine Whip in all directions!"

Since the grass Pokemon was spinning, it wasn't certain that one or even two tentacles would do the trick. This was a way of making sure that even if it wasn't able to hit its opponent, it would be able to keep her at a distance long enough to regain the sense of what is up and what is down.

"Keep your distance and get above it!" Red ordered his Pokemon.

The bird judged at what point her opponent would stop going up and start to fall and flew slightly higher.

"Wing Attack!"

Pidgeotto flapped her wings, sending powerful gusts of air which accelerated Tangela's fall. Neither the grass Pokemon nor its trainer had time to react and, about two seconds later, it smashed into the roof. To Red's surprise, it got up fairly quickly. He was sure that it would go down after that combination of attacks so he looked at Erika, wondering if she did something beforehand to prepare Tangela against flying type Pokemon.

"Synthesis!" the Gym leader commanded, hoping to take advantage of the time it would take Pidgeotto to get down to the roof.

Tangela's body started glowing with green light, making the Pokemon look less tired. Since Red had his experience with grass Pokemon, he suspected that the artificial sun played a role in this regenerative process. This made him think that it would be best if he hurried with his next move.

"Aerial Ace!"

He looked at Erika after saying that and noted that the girl remained calm. Pidgeotto was about to sweep Tangela off its feet when the Gym leader revealed that she was preparing for a counterattack.

"Ancient Power!"

Tangela turned towards the approaching opponent and closed its eyes for a moment, after which a ring of floating rocks surrounded by a white aura appeared around its body.

"Pull up!" Red yelled to his Pokemon since he didn't expect this clash of attacks to go well for them.

The Grass Pokemon didn't even need to move in order for the rocks to shoot out towards the escaping bird. As she flew higher, she wanted to confirm the range that the projectiles could reach in order to avoid them in the future but, to her surprise, it seemed like they wouldn't stop until they would reach their target. Oddish, who stood beside his trainer all this time, looked at the boy with a worried expression.

"Aerial Ace once again! Do it fast!"

Pidgeotto turned around and dropped towards the rocks. Her spinning motion made it possible to barely avoid them before they also turned around and started following her again.

"I see what you're hoping for but it's useless! Tangela, Vine Whip!"

"This will be risky but... Pidgeotto, use Whirlwind!" Red ordered while keeping in mind that his Pokemon would have to be able to use the move before Ancient Power would catch up to her.

Pidgeotto flapped her wings in a distinct way and instead of creating waves of air like she would with Wing Attack, her irregular movements caused a spiral of wind to appear in front of her, growing larger by the second, until it was big enough to lift up Tangela and throw her towards her trainer, the pressure being so strong that the Grass Pokemon changed into light and went back inside its pokeball, leaving the Gym leader clueless as to what just happened.

Red couldn't be happy about it since it was just a temporary measure. There was also the fact that although Tangela was gone for the moment, the rocks created by it didn't disappear. They lost their glow and it seemed like they wouldn't be able to change their direction anymore but they were already close enough that it didn't matter. Pidgeotto got hit in the back and had to struggle not to crash into the roof.

"Come back, Gloom!" the leader shouted while throwing a pokeball after coming to terms with Tangela being kicked out of the battle "Acid!"

"U-Turn!"

When the grass type Pokemon shot out its poisonous liquid, Pidgeotto was already gone from the place the opponent aimed for and was flying at it from the side. Gloom tried to block the attack with its arms but it wasn't enough to stop the bird from flying at it and sending it upwards after the impact. Instead of following it to attack, the move Pidgeotto used caused her to follow the path she started on and return back to Red, changing herself into light and going back in her pokeball before the energy carried by her made another pokeball open, revealing that Charmeleon wasn't actually defeated during his earlier fight. He opened one of his hands which was closed at the moment he appeared out of the ball and revealed a Sitrus Berry which he promptly consumed.

"So he also uses items..." Erika muttered while observing if Gloom was in a good position to attack.

"Are you okay, Charmeleon?"

The Pokemon nodded.

"Alright. Use Flamethrower!"

The lizard opened his mouth and released a powerful stream of fire. Erika wanted to try and prevent the attack but after giving it a moment of thought, she realized that using poison type moves in this situation could prove dangerous, with her not being able to tell if Gloom could accurately aim at its opponent. This meant that she had to stand there and witness as Charmeleon's flames surrounded her partner until the moment when the lizard let up and Gloom landed on the roof unconscious.

"That was... You're actually kinda good." Erika commented while calling Gloom back to its pokeball.

"Wait. Don't tell me you though that I was getting so heated up about Pokemon while not actually being at least decent at Pokemon battles."

"Weeell... Let's not get into the right now. I still have two of my Pokemon left and your Charmeleon doesn't look like he can take much more."

"That... That remains to be seen, doesn't it?" Red asked while glancing at his Pokemon, trying to hide how worried he was.

During that exchange, Oddish looked towards the doors which lead to the stairs he and Red used to get to the roof and noticed that the film crew finally managed to find where the two of them went and started recording they battle while trying to hang back as to not get into both trainers' way.

"It's a shame that your name doesn't rhyme with bloom but it's your turn again." Erika said while holding up one of her pokeballs "Go, Tangela!"

"Flame Charge! Don't give it time to move!"

Charmeleon started running at his opponent while setting himself ablaze.

"Tangela! Trust me and use Vine Whip!"

The grass Pokemon was a little hesitant but it gave in and used one of its tentacles to grab onto the lizard's arm. It was hard to keep it there with the flames hurting it constantly and the fact that Charmeleon was almost there to deliver the hit didn't make it any calmer.

"Throw it and let go!" Erika commanded.

Charmeleon was thrown towards the elevator. He disabled his flames since he didn't get a good look at the place they were in and didn't want to accidentally destroy something and cause trouble for his trainer. He tried to regain balance and hoped to stop himself by kicking the wall next to the elevator but Erika planned on continuing her attack.

"Ancient Power! This should finish it!"

The girls prediction proved right when Charmeleon was pelted with a volley of rocks right after succeeding in his plan to land.

Red returned the Pokemon to his ball and thanked him for doing a good job before moving onto the hard decision of who he should use next "That rock move is too dangerous for Pidgeotto, even if the other stuff won't do her much harm. Electric attacks won't be too useful so Raichu is out. Gyarados is part flying but he still doesn't really know anything besides Bounce and it's too dangerous to use it on top of a building. I taught him a water move but that would be even less useful. That leaves Ee..."

The boy felt something nudging his leg and after looking down, he saw Oddish looking at him with a slight smile on his face.

"I..." he wanted to tell the Pokemon that he would not be suitable for this battle since he didn't even consider him as an option from the beginning, but suddenly he came to a realization "Wait... I think I may have got ahead of myself."

"Hello? Are you alright? Is this fight still happening?" Erika asked impatiently.

"Yeah. And my next Pokemon is Oddish!" the boy responded.

"Oddish?" the leader sounded surprised "I mean... I had an Oddish as my first Pokemon so I know that they can be strong if you train them well but this one... It looks like it's lacking something."

"Let the battle decide that." Red said with a smile.

"You're creeping me out. What happened to your previous attitude?"

"Oh. I just came to realize that I was fighting you for the wrong reasons. I got mad at you because I thought about all my friends and what being a Pokemon trainer means to them. But that's not right. They dreams aren't mine so I can't use them as an excuse to get angry over whether you're serious in what you're doing."

"You're making it confusing. What's your point?"

"I don't have a dream I'm working towards. My journey is just a way to see how far I can go and the reason I started is because I like Pokemon."

"I mean... Yeah. I get that but..."

"Even if I win, it would be an empty victory if I don't get the thing I want from every Pokemon battle. That thing is "fun". I was so blinded by my anger that I completely forgot about it. That's why I will fight using Oddish."

"But... What if you lose because of that?"

"Won't matter. After remembering that Pokemon battles can mean something different to each person, I accepted that your reasons for being a Gym leader are valid. If you're still mad at me then come at me with full power but right now it doesn't matter if I win or lose...Which makes me that much more dangerous."

"I... I think I now have a completely different reason for being angry. You didn't stop to consider how I would feel, since I'm fighting you seriously, if I lost against you trying to just have fun? It would be humiliating."

"Then all you have to do is win." he responded while shrugging in an exaggerated way.

"If you say so..." the leader didn't look satisfied with how the boy completely changed in a minute or so, even though him coming to his senses is what she wanted at the beginning "We're going to go all out! Tangela, use Vine Whip to get a hold of it!"

Red didn't give any order in response and simply watched how a tentacle wrapped around Oddish and lifted him of the roof. Tangela retracted its vine so that its opponent was fairly close to it but not close enough to attack with his body.

"You're not going to do anything?" Erika asked "You really intend to piss me off, don't you? Well, have it your way. Tangela, use Ancient Power!"

"Mega Drain!"

As Tangela started to materialize the floating rocks around its body, Oddish started sucking out energy through the vine holding him in air. It looked like her Pokemon was struggling but Erika believed that it could execute the order despite this obstacle.

"That's not all!" Red announced after seeing that Tangela managed to create the rocks and started lifting them higher into air "Sleep Powder!"

"No!" Erika yelled for naught since she already realized what was the boy's plan and that she couldn't stop it.

The only thing she could do is pray that the attack wouldn't take effect but it turned out that she wasn't so lucky. Tangela fell asleep and with that it lost control of Ancient Powers and all the rocks fell on its head. That was enough to immediately wake it up but it also hurt quite a bit and made it release Oddish from its grasp.

"I'm not sure what you did but it seems like you used some tricks besides Synthesis to stealthily heal up Tangela. I had to get ahead for this to be a fair fight."

"It's not supposed to be fair."

"And I said that I'm doing this for fun. It's more fun to me this way."

"You're acting like you could win this any moment." Erika lifted one of her brows while saying that.

"Well, I've got a plan. We'll see if it works out. You're welcome to try and stop us."

"Vine Whip!" the girl shouted, hoping to take him by surprise.

"Dodge!" was the boy's response and his Pokemon easily did what he wanted of him.

"How is he so..." Erika started but, when she remembered the artificial sun her Pokemon created earlier during the battle, she clenched her fists "Of course. His Oddish uses Chlorophyll to double its speed. He messed with my mind so much that I'm forgetting the basics of my own experience as a Pokemon trainer. I won't make the same mistake again. Tangela, use Vine Whip! As many as you can at the same time!"

Red didn't expect her to use something so messy since all her previous tactics seemed well thought out. Nevertheless, her plan seemed to work since Oddish could barely keep up with avoiding the multitude of tentacles trying to hit him, even with his increased speed. But there was someone who could.

"Return, Oddish!" the boy yelled while pointing a pokeball at his Pokemon right as he was about to be struck by a tentacle for the first time "It's your turn, Pidgeotto!"

"This thi..." Erika stopped herself in time since she caught herself about to underestimate Red even though he proved already that he could exceed her expectations and that even though he claimed he was fighting for "fun", he didn't do anything carelessly "Ghh... Don't let up, Tangela!"

The bird raced against the tentacles while trying to get closer to her opponent.

"Aerial Ace!" ordered Red.

Knowing what Pidgeotto was about to do, Tangela prepared herself to be able to stop the attack,

"Or not!" the boy added after seeing that.

His Pokemon listened and flew by her foe without trying to attack it, leaving Tangela confused and Erika wondering if it was a setup for another tactic. She was mad at herself that she didn't immediately realize what it could be.

"U-Turn!"

While still being behind her opponent, Pidgeotto swiftly turned around and flew at Tangela as fast as she could, knocking the Pokemon in Red's direction before returning to her pokeball and causing Oddish to come back out of his.

"Tangela, you have to prepare!"

"Mega Drain!"

As Oddish tried to attack by creating a vine that would suck out his foe's energy, Tangela was already releasing a bunch of tentacles to knock his attack out of the way before he could get even one bit out of it.

"This isn't working out." Red thought to himself "Pidgeotto can deal some damage but not quickly enough since Tangela can regenerate itself at any given moment. Oddish can probably drain it faster than it could heal but he doesn't have any offensive attacks besides Mega Drain and it's hard to even get close with just this. We could try using Grass Knot but it would be pointless if Erika knew it was coming."

Oddish backed off after realizing that his attacks haven't been working and that Red still hasn't given him another order. Seeing that the boy was in deep thought, the Pokemon became worried that it was because he wasn't meeting his expectations. Red was a kind trainer so Oddish never worried too much and just tried to enjoy himself, be it fights, food or sleep, but although it was hard to understand what the boy tried to explain to him earlier during the day, he began to suspect that his serious face meant that he was considering letting him go since he was weaker than all the other members of his team. He even went as far as showing that he wanted to take part in this fight but it seemed like it wasn't enough if he didn't beat at least one of Erika's Pokemon. These thoughts scared him so much that he decided for the first time to go beyond the limit of his own abilities. He couldn't do math but his thoughts were essentially the equivalent of breaking through his 100 percent and try to reach even 101 percent.

"What?" was the only thing Red could say as he was taken out of his thoughts by what was happening in front of him.

Instead of trying to attack and his attempts being deflected, Oddish put himself on the defensive as he ran towards Tangela, trying to knock away its tentacles with his single vine. There were simply too many of them and each step he took, he was knocked backwards by two, finally landing in front of his trainer's feet. After seeing the boy's perplexed face nearing him, he closed his eyes, too afraid of what would happen to him for not reaching Red's expectations. He suddenly felt himself being lifted up by his leaves.

"What the hell are you trying do to? We're a team, aren't we? You can make your own decisions when there's a need for it but usually it works in such a way that I instruct you. Are you that desperate to win that you don't trust me? Well, I've been focusing too hard on how to go about this so I guess it's my fault."

Oddish held back his tears when he heard these words. He realized that he himself put unnecessary thoughts and assumptions about Red in his own head. He gave out a meek sound that meant to signify that he was ready to return to the battlefield, especially since Tangela seemed eager to approach them instead of waiting for him to attack again.

"Hmm... I could..." Red looked at Oddish for a while until a suspicious smile appeared on his face and he leaned back before throwing the Pokemon like a sinker in baseball.

Erika, Tangela and all of the film crew stood there with their eyes wide open in shock which gave the boy a momentary advantage and allowed Oddish to land right in front of the opponent.

"Mega Drain!"

Although Oddish was able to suck out some of Tangela's energy, Erika immediately returned to her senses and gave an order of her own "Vine Whip! Strike it down with a barrage of your tentacles!"

The little grass Pokemon stood there while being pummeled, patiently draining energy as his own was depleted. Erika saw how dangerous that situation was and the only thing both of the trainers could do was hope that their Pokemon would be the one to hold out longer. Seeing Oddish's resilience against a much stronger opponent, the Gym leader began to wonder how it was possible that he still was in his first evolutionary stage.

"We're close! You can do this!"

Oddish never before fought with such passion so he didn't expect how big of an influence these simple words would be on him but suddenly he felt like he could keep this struggle going on as long as he wanted. If Red believed in him, he also had to believe. This line of thought was stopped for a fraction of a second when he noticed that his body began to glow white. He wasn't sure what was happening but he wasn't about to let it stop him from trying to achieve his goal. He was a lot more surprised when he saw that he two additional limbs.

"Did you get that on tape?!" the announcer asked the cameraman with an excited voice while pushing aside one of the other crew members.

"We don't use tape anym..."

"Did! You! Get! That!" the man repeated himself.

"Y-yeah. I did."

"That's great. That's fantastic. We can use that. I can already imagine a commercial for a new perfume! "With this scent, you too can evolve". Catchy, isn't it?"

The cameraman didn't bother listening to him since he was much more interested on how the battle would go after such a game changer.

"I regret thinking that..." Erika said quietly with a worried expression.

Understanding that the situation possibly just got worst, Tangela kept on attacking despite the initial shock. Meanwhile, Red wondered how this surprising evolution could help him increase their chances of winning. He quickly looked through the data on his Pokedex. Although he saw Erika use her Gloom in battle, it wasn't likely that his one would suddenly learn poison type moves since he hasn't used any previously. There was still some hope for them. Since his partner had a new set of limbs an idea appeared in Red's head to utilize them. He never tried it with Oddish's legs since they were too crucial thanks to his ability but he wondered if the arms could be used as conduits for Mega Drain in the same way that the Pokemon would use his vine.

"Use your arms!" he shouted.

Not completely sure what it meant, instead of just trying to hold onto Tangela, Gloom delivered a combination of two punches. To his own and Red's surprise, this attack seemed to have great effect since Tangela stopped her own for a short while to recover.

"What is it?" the boy asked while looking for an answer in the Pokedex "Hmm. It must be this... Drain Punch! Gloom! Keep on doing what you're doing!"

Without giving the opponent a chance to hit back, the Pokemon kept on delivering energy draining punches one after another.

"I don't know what move he lost after learning that but... Use Grass Knot to keep it in place!"

Gloom stopped for a second to bring his food down in an axe kick which caused two grass blades to sprout from the roof and trap one of Tangela's legs, allowing him to keep it at a comfortable distance as he kept on putting on pressure. He stopped when it seemed like the other Pokemon was about to do something but it turned out that Tangela was already unconscious and only the Grass Knot was keeping it from falling down. Seeing that, Erika took out its pokeball and called it back.

"Two Pokemon on his side. Gloom just healed up so he'll probably continue with him. Pidgeotto is the bigger problem but he's already been hurt and doesn't have any regenerative capabilities. I can win this." Erika quietly considered her chances "To your opponents you bring doom! Flourish and bloom, Vileplume!"

Her final Pokemon turned out to be the evolved form of Gloom. Seeing it reminded Red of the box containing the Leaf Stone which would allow his Pokemon to turn into the same monster. He left his backpack together with his normal clothes so he couldn't use it but he was actually grateful for that. He felt like he needed to spend more time with this second stage of evolution and explore all the possibilities it gave them before haphazardly evolving him. If he had it with him, the temptation to use it in a dire moment could be too enticing for him to be able to stop himself from doing that.

"That sun is still up. We have to use it to our advantage while possible." Red said to himself while looking up before turning towards Gloom "Run at it and use Drain Punch!"

"We won't give you a chance!" Erika shouted, finding that she was slowly actually getting excited about the battle "Vileplume, Double Team!"

Gloom stopped running since he got confused who to hit when a bunch of Vileplume's appeared out of nowhere.

"It didn't move! It's still that one!" Red yelled while pointing at the original.

It was already too late since at that moment the group of Vileplume scattered, obscuring the movement of the real one. They surrounded Gloom who tried to remain vigilant by slowly moving clockwise, hoping to see where the attack would come from.

Erika lifted up one of her hands before bringing it down in a swinging motion while ordering "Petal Dance!"

The group of Vileplume's started circling Gloom while also spinning around, shooting out pink colored petals from the flowers on their heads. Each one released around a hundred of them so soon there were more than a thousand of petals in the air. Even though only a small number of them were real, the picture of them swirling around him were enough to intimidate Gloom whose instinct was to try and break free by running outside of the circle. He managed to run through one of the fake Vileplume's and make it disappear but by doing so he exposed himself to the upcoming attack. A storm of petals followed him and hit him with such a force that it lifted him up and carried towards the edge of the building.

. . .

"It shouldn't be much further. That person I asked for the way said that it's close to Celadon Department Store and I'm right next to it." these were the thoughts of Green as he reached the center of the city with the plan of finding the Celadon Palace.

Right as he was about to reach out to someone for more specific directions, since he still couldn't see the casino, he felt something land on his head. At first, he was terrified that it might have been bird excrement but he realized that it was too light. And then a bunch more fell on him and all around. All the people around stopped and stared upwards in confusion as they were showered with pink petals, most of which disappeared on touch

"Is this some kind of advertisement?" he heard someone person say.

When his instinct made him glance towards them, he noticed something else that fell soon after the petals stopped. He didn't want to believe his eyes at first but when he approached it and snatched it away from another person who was about to pick it up, he was sure that it was the same hat Red would always wear. He stood up and looked towards the roof. He could see that someone or something hanging from it and before giving it a closer look, he ran inside the building. It didn't seem plausible that he would get there in time to help but he wanted to believe that his friend was safe.

. . .

"Let go or you'll fall with us!"

Red was barely holding onto one of Gloom's leg after the Petal Dance caused him to break through the guardrail. He himself was also about to fall off but Erika managed to reach them in time and together with Vileplume they held onto the boy's knees but he was too heavy and it looked like they were sliding towards the edge of the roof.

"No way!" she responded.

"I'll come up with something but it will be harder if I have more people to save!"

His words were only partially true. He was sure that he could use Pidgeotto to catch Gloom if they were to fall but the only way he could save himself would be with Gyarados but he wasn't sure he would be able to do it without damaging the building or hurting the people down below.

"Oh no!" Erika cried as she felt her own legs sliding off the roof.

She closed her eyes and it took her some time to realize they weren't falling like she expected. Only then did she realize that the film crew dropped all their equipment and ran to help them. Instead of her being the last link of the human/Pokemon chain, there were a bunch of people holding onto the lower part of her body.

"Pull!" shouted the announcer.

Everyone put in their strength and in one quick motion they managed to get everyone safely back on the roof. Red and Gloom flipped in air and had a hard landing but they were too focused on the fact that they survived at all to care about the pain.

"So... are you ready to continue?" he asked Erika after managing to sit up.

The girl and the film crew looked at him in silence before she stood up and quickly approached him.

"Are you insane?!" she said while grabbing him by his kimono "You almost died! Why are you acting like nothing happened?! Are you really some adrenaline junkie?! After all, it was your idea to bring the fight to the roof in the first place!"

"Welllll... It's not like I did with falling to my death in mind." he said while awkwardly averting her angry gaze.

She let go and sat back down in front of him while letting out a sight.

"That was tiring... I... We could finish this battle another time but I feel like I would completely calm down so it would be different than if we were to continue it right now. So let's say you won."

"Huh?" Red looked at her with a stupefied expression "What did you say?"

"You won." she repeated.

"That's not fair!" he objected "I insulted you. I got over all that stuff when I realized that I was fighting you for the wrong reason but aren't you still mad at me?"

"I feel like I also fought you for the wrong reasons. It felt like I wanted to take out on you all the frustration that I stored up because of my father. But that's just me proving he's right in thinking I'm immature. I'm acting like I can do anything I want but I can't really tell if I would be able to become a model and a Gym leader without him helping me behind the scenes."

"There must be something else."

"What do you mean?"

"Isn't there something else you want to do?"

"I... There is one thing, I guess... I wanted to..."

"Stop!" he said while putting up his index finger "Don't tell me. Don't tell anyone. Just do it. If your father doesn't know about it, he won't be able to help you and then you'll be able to see what you can do on your own. After that, you can show him the fruits of your work and that'll be your proof that you could do all these things from the beginning."

"I don't know. You thought I wasn't being serious since I tried to split my attention between two things but now adding a third..."

"You already proved me wrong. It wasn't your father's money I fought against. It was your own abilities. And you were great. I don't really know anything about modelling but I'm sure you're great at that too."

"Hmm. You make sense." she responded while pondering what he said "If you were a girl, I might have fallen for you."

Red blushed a little and couldn't stop a smirk that appeared on his face.

"Take that grin off your face, you asshole." he heard at the same time as he felt his hat being placed on his head.

He looked up and, to his shock, saw Green who was sweating as if he just ran a marathon. Right after his arrival, Kanna and Sumire also appeared on the roof. Red and Erika gave them an explanation of what happened while omitting some intimate and embarrassing details.

"Why do you always get yourself into this kind of trouble?" Green asked after emptying a bottle of water he took out from his bag.

"Hmm... Because it's fun?"

"I also had fun." Erika interjected.

Her friends still couldn't understand how the leader and the trainer went to being friendly in such a short amount of time, especially with how they acted before. Meanwhile, the announcer was lamenting the fact that while saving the two of them, all the equipment dropped by the crew was damaged and so they lost the footage he wanted to use for promotional purposes.

"But enough about me... We haven't seen each other in quite some time. It doesn't look like you and Erika met before, so what have you been doing while in Celadon City?"

"Oh. Actually, I'm going to a casino to get information on disappearing Pokem..." mid-sentence, Green realized that saying that would definitely make Red want to accompany him and since subtlety wasn't his friend's specialty, he was afraid of how things would turn out.

"Go on." the other teenager said, his eyes already burning with excitement after hearing Green's words.

* * *

50 years have passed. I'm finally back with another chapter. It's not just that I have less time to write because of my work, but also the fact that my computer finally broke after a month of acting wonky. Thankfully, none of my files were lost and I even upgraded some stuff while repairing it. So hopefully you won't have to wait a month for each new chapter(maybe for the longer ones).

We finished this Erika mini-arc. I took it in various directions that I didn't expect but it wasn't that hard to arrive at a happy ending where Red, Erika and even Oddish/Gloom were able to learn something about themselves and each other.

There were some things that I didn't have time for but Erika isn't out of the story so maybe I'll be able to have them in the future. I put a lot more thought into her team than the previous Gym leaders and there's various stuff like held items and abilities that aren't directly mentioned but if you pay attention, you can notice when they're brought up.

Red and Green met up after like 3 or so months and they're about to get into trouble again. Chapter 28 will lead into the next major arc. I just hope that I'll be able to pick up the pace and finish that arc during this year.

Edit: It turns out that I really worried too much way back when I wrote that hot springs scene. I've been watching the recent Sonic let's play by Game Grumps and one episode had them reading a Sonic fanfiction. I wondered where they found it and it turns out that it's on this site. I wondered if maybe it was a censored version or something. Nope. Straight up porn. It's 10 times as long as my fanfic and has seemingly tons of people reading it and yet it hasn't been taken down. In the future I won't worry so much about writing some suggestive stuff although I don't think I'll ever write an actual sex scene(Pokemon battles are already hard enough to write while trying not to be repetitive).

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmeleon, Raichu, Gloom, Gyarados, Pidgeotto.

Badges: 3 (Even though he won, he still technically didn't get the badge)

Green. Team: Ivysaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, ?.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Bellsprout(Bell), Wartortle(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.


	34. 28: Out of Luck

Recommended Music: Inazuma Eleven GO Opening 4.

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 28: Out of Luck.

"So why a casino?" Red asked Green who stood outside the changing room as he was changing back into his regular clothes.

"I... I got frustrated that I couldn't do anything so now it's less of just doing it but also doing it as quickly as possible. I've thought about asking around in bars but there's nothing open this early. And besides, I've got a feeling like this may be something beyond the knowledge of regular thugs."

Red finally came outside and look at his friend with a perplexed face "You mean that you think it's the work of Team Rocket or something? With what's going on, I don't think that they would focus on something like that."

"Maybe not Team Rocket but there are other gangs. There's also Yakuza."

"You don't believe that Yakuza actually exists, do you?" Red asked as they began walking away from the already empty stage.

"Don't you watch any TV? There's whole documentaries about Yakuza and what they do. Stuff like "Once you get in, you'll never get out"."

"If you can't get out, how would the information needed for creating a documentary be available?"

Green blushed a little since he didn't have a good explanation.

Remembering something that Red said a couple seconds earlier, he turned to him and asked "What was that thing you said about Team Rocket?"

"Huh?"

"You said something about how they wouldn't do stuff like this. What gives you reason to believe that?"

"It's not that I don't think they would steal Pokemon. I just meant that they're probably using their resources to get Cross back."

"Cross? Is that someone's name or...?"

"Oh! That's right. You wouldn't know about it."

"Wait." they heard a familiar voice behind them and when they turned around they saw that it belonged to Erika who changed to more casual clothes and put on a wooly hat.

"Yeah?" Red looked at her face with worry since she looked like she just saw a ghost.

"You're him, aren't you? The one the other Gym leaders have been talking about?"

"I guess that could be. It depends. Did they talk about a powerful Pokemon created by Team Rocket that currently resides in the Cerulean Cave?"

"So it is you." she said before looking at green "And your friend?"

"Well, he did help me fight Team Rocket once in the past although it wasn't something nearly as big as the thing in Cerulean. But he still kicked major butt when we fought Darkness Gang."

"I'm still unclear about what this conversation is supposed to be leading towards." commented Green "What is the connection between you, the Gym leaders and Team Rocket? And what was that about a powerful Pokemon?"

Erika looked meaningfully at Red but he responded with a simple smile, letting her know that it was okay to talk about it with Green around.

"Let's maybe talk about it somewhere else..." Red responded while looking around in order to make sure that there was no possibility that someone besides Erika overheard them.

. . .

After arriving in Erika's Gym, Red laid out the history of his encounters with Team Rocket while Green grew more and more surprised with every word. Even the leader gasped a couple times, since she hasn't heard all the details before. He finished speaking at nearly the same time than Kanna and Sumire arrived with tea for the three of them.

"So we're not sure what their plan is, just the fact that they need to use this Pokemon called Mewtwo and that it's something verrry evil..." Green commented before burning the tip of his tongue on the hot beverage.

"I've been pretty busy with other stuff..." Erika said, meaning her modeling job and her duties as a Gym leader "...but I keep in contact with the rest of Gym leaders and most of them are working on finding out something about Team Rocket. Misty is in charge of keeping Cross safe while Lt. Surge is trying to use his military connections in hopes of gathering some kind of info about them. Brock and Sabrina are also actively cooperating with the police departments of their cities in order to be able to personally question any highly suspicious individuals that are caught by them."

"What about the Elite Four?" Red inquired.

"So far we have two of..." Erika started before being interrupted.

Green almost spat out his drink after hearing them being mentioned "You've got Elite Four involved in this thing? The things you said till now were already pretty insane but you're planning on using literally the four strongest people in the whole Kanto to deal with this? Is this Pokemon really that strong?!"

"From what I've seen. But it's not only that... They weren't able to control Cross but after succeeding in creating him, we don't know how long it would take them to make another one. Even a small group of similarly powerful Pokemon would be enough to take over this region. That's not taking into account however many trainers and other Pokemon Team Rocket has in its ranks. And they're not the only ones. Darkness Gang is still out there and if Team Rocket start something, they and all the other criminal organizations could also try to get involved."

Green squinted his eyes and looked down before lifting his head and trying to say something "Red, maybe..."

"Hmm? What is it?" he asked since his friend stopped mid-sentence.

"No. It's... I was about say something stupid. I should already be used to the fact that you don't care about danger when the good of others is involved." the rival explained and a slight smile appeared on his face "But now that you've told me about this, I want in."

"You want in?"

"I mean... I'm already planning on investigating the disappearing Pokemon and contrary to what you've said, there's still a chance that Team Rocket is responsible for this. We don't know anything about their plan and if there's a chance to learn something while also maybe saving these Pokemon sound pretty nice, doesn't it?"

"It sure does."

They finally were communicating at the same wavelength which was visualized by them bumping each other's fists. Erika didn't look to sure about their optimism.

"You don't know if you'll find anything just by going to the casino. Besides, how do you even plan on getting in there?"

"What do you mean?" Red asked with confusion painted on his face.

The girl let out a long sigh after realizing that the two boys had no idea what they were trying to get themselves into.

"Celadon Palace is not like a regular casino where any bum can just walk into, spend some small amount of money and leave. It's high a high class society place. Wine, high stakes, expensive clothes and other such stuff. You won't be getting inside unless you're already a little rich and properly dressed."

"Heard that?" Red turned towards Green.

"Yeah. This may be tougher than it seemed at first."

"Or not tough at all." Erika said quietly, grabbing their attention again "Look... I'm probably going to regret it but if it's something that can save Pokemon and maybe even help save Kanto in the future, I'm willing to offer you my help."

"What does that entail exactly?" Green wondered.

His question would soon be answered.

. . .

A couple hours later, Red and Green were getting impatient while waiting for Erika in the lobby of her enormous house which she didn't seem to share with any other family members, although they could see a maid or a butler now and again. Some of them were giving Red unpleasant looks, probably because they heard about how he treated the Gym leader when they first met. Despite that, they were so dedicated to making their lady happy that they gave they showed their best efforts while preparing the boys' clothes and also offering them snack during their waiting time. Red ate some of them, telling the person who brought them to compliment the chef, but Green was getting too impatient to care about whether he was hungry or not. If he knew it would take this long, he would probably just wait the additional hour or so and walk around a bunch of bars. There wasn't anything stopping him from staying in Celadon for a couple days, in case that their visit to the casino would prove fruitless, but he was worried that someone would be able to notice him sniffing around if he did his investigation over a longer period of time. Besides that, there was another thing that bothered him although he felt that it was mostly Red's influence that caused him to notice it.

"Why is my suit blue?" he asked, hoping to put his mind to rest in order to be completely focused on what they were going to do.

"What do you mean?" Red looked at him with a confused expression, his words not completely clear since he was stuffing his face with a snack made up of some fish, cheese and a pepper.

"Your name is Red and you got a red suit. My name is Green. Why didn't I get a green one? Is green such an outrageous color or do you think they just couldn't find one?"

"Sorry. It's my fault." they heard Erika's voice from upstairs.

They turned their heads and saw her descending down the stairs, wearing a beautiful green dress with a pink floral pattern and a red ribbon attached to the belt around her waist. Overall, the effect instantly reminded them of a kimono.

"I'm the Grass type Gym leader after all. That white kimono I wore earlier was prepared for advertising the perfume but otherwise I like to represent by wearing these colors. If the two of us wore green, people could think that we were a couple. If Red also wore it, they would probably take your for my bodyguards."

"I guess that makes sense." Green said while scratching the back of his head, hoping to get used to his suit.

"I wonder what color would you have to wear if Blue was here?" Red asked, already munching on another thing.

"Hmm... Probably yellow. When you talk about the primary colors it's either green or yellow..."

"Umm... You know a person called Blue? Did your parents have some pact to name you all in such a way?" Erika asked, actually curious.

"It's..." Red wanted to respond but he didn't take into the account that he was eating and started coughing to avoid choking.

"It's nothing like that but it really feels like everyone asks that." Green finished for his friend.

. . .

The group was on their way to the Celadon Palace but Green felt a little uncomfortable, even though they were being driven there in a limousine with a nice audio system, a TV and more food and drinks inside. He kept glancing at Red who was sitting next to him and was busy with staring down Erika who was opposite of them, trying to enjoy a drink. She hoped that he would stop but since he didn't let up after a couple minutes, she decided to speak up, having realized why he was behaving this way.

"Alright, alright. Stop this already. I get your point. But this wasn't a freebie from my dad."

"It wasn't?" he lighted up.

"Welllll... It was a birthday gift. That doesn't count, right?" she said while trying to make it sound like a joke.

"I'm disappointed in you." Red responded before bursting out in laughter, this whole time having been purposefully trying to make the girl uncomfortable.

"Asshole." while saying that, she took off an olive from her miniature sandwich and threw it at him, also laughing.

After they calmed down a little, the leader took on a serious expression "So... What plan did you come up with?"

"Plan?" Red asked as if it was a word that he never heard of.

"We don't need a plan." Green stated while stretching out by placing his feet on the small table with food, which got him an annoyed look from Erika "Red and I are quite different so the best way for us to go about this is that each will just do their own thing."

"But... What is that "thing" for each of you?" she inquired.

"I didn't ask before but are you with us just to help us get there or will your stay and also try to gather information?"

"The latter."

"Then that's that. Don't focus on what we'll do. Don't try to copy us. Just do your stuff, I'll work my magic and Red..." he looked and at his friend and together with Erika noticed that he was too busy with checking the available songs on a touch screen to focus on what they were talking about "...Well, Red's Red."

"I'm afraid to ask what that means." the girl said with a worried voice.

. . .

They finally arrived in front of the Celadon Palace. They could tell thanks to the chauffeur who communicated with them through an intercom before getting out of his seat in order to walk over and open the door for them. Although Erika didn't like Green's attitude, she appreciated that he let her get out first, not because she was a woman, but because he recognized that she was their way to get in. Even if they were dressed fancy and arrived there in an expensive looking vehicle, it was better that they had someone with them that people could instantly recognize as someone from a higher class.

"How long?" the man asked while bowing slightly to the young lady.

She looked at the two behind her to hear their opinion before giving an answer.

"Well, we're not going to spend the whole night there but it's going to have to be at least a couple hours." Green responded while pondering the question in his head "How about 3 hours? Does 3 hours sound good?"

He looked at Red who gave a quick nod. He probably didn't have an opinion of his own and decided to trust Green's judgement.

After all of them left the car, the chauffeur got back inside and drove towards a big parking nearby, created specifically to accommodate the city's night life. Finally being able to see what the famed Celadon Palace looked like, Red's and Green's jaws instantly dropped. They didn't realize that the name was to be taken literally and that the casino actually looked like an ancient castle comprised of multiple buildings. They were worried that it would take them much longer than they expected to gather any information but Erika quickly explained that that only the main building was a casino while the other ones contained a hotel, restaurants and various other facilities for the guests.

Instead of taking the scarily long stairs leading to the main entrance, they opted out for using one of the escalators located on the either side of them. There was a bunch of security guards waiting for them but at least a couple recognized Erika, either from her appearances as a model or through knowing about her father. No one created any problems for the girl and her companions but they still had to go through a door frame metal detector. The material pokeballs were made of didn't raise an alarm but they were still noticed by the guards who didn't look too pleased about it.

"You'll have to leave your Pokemon with us." the nicest looking one of them said while pointing towards the boys' belts.

Red glanced at Erika who didn't bring her Pokemon with her in order to see what she thought about this matter but his attention was caught by Green who took of the belt with the balls without asking any questions.

"Just be careful with them." Red said to the man while handing him his pokeballs.

The security guard responded with a smile that was weirdly off-putting to the boy, before walking over to a shelf a couple meters back and placing the items together with some other pokeballs and various other items that people weren't allowed to bring into the casino.

They walked a couple meters but Red kept looking back, still not able to stop worrying about his Pokemon. The fact that Green remained silent should be reassuring since he was the one with better foresight but him not saying anything was actually quite eerie.

"Are you..." he wanted to ask him a question but stopped when his friends put his finger in front of his mouth, signifying that Red was also to keep quiet, at least until they would be out of the sight of security.

There were still cameras to consider but the rival managed to find a good spot where he could reveal his reason without being seen. He opened his mouth and spat out a pokeball hidden inside. Erika looked at this scene with disgust before coming to her senses and quickly moving towards Green to make him hide the ball somewhere.

"What the hell are you doing?" she whispered while grabbing the two boys by their hair and bringing them closer to herself.

"We're in the enemy territory. It's good that Green is smarter than us and hid an ace up his... mouth."

"A very appropriate comparison seeing as we're in a place where every person is probably very fascinated with the idea of cheating. In fact, we should play some cards and..."

The girl twisted her hands, hurting the boys, in order to make them listen to her.

"This place isn't the den of villainy that you take it for. You two watched too many movies. There are probably some guys from the criminal underworld here but finding them won't be easy. We can't draw attention to ourselves and we have to hurry." she explained.

"Drawing attention to ourselves is actually the best way to do this." Red responded before pulling himself from the girl's grasp which weakened since she thought she convinced them.

After taking a couple steps with Green and Erika watching his back with two completely different feelings, he suddenly turned around and came back. He was sweating a little and avoiding eye contact with either of them.

"What is it?" the girl asked.

"I actually don't have any money with me." he said very quietly while also trying to take a peek to see their reactions.

Instead of focusing on him, Erika turned towards Green and gave him an asking look.

"What? Me? I have a bunch of money with me. I'm prepared to spend as much as a 1000 gold if it's going to help us. I'll have to forget eating at restaurants for some time but..."

"Both of you are equally disappointing." she summarized her opinion of them at that moment.

"Do you want us to beg or will you just lend us some money?" Green asked while looking at her like she was only the means to an end.

"Don't mind him. We'll think about some way to..." Red tried to save the situation but Erika interrupted him by holding out two hands with wads of cash.

"You have to remember why we're here. No matter how foolish or..." she paused and glared at Green "...or how annoying you act, I'm going to give you my support. Just... I'll put my trust in you so don't let me down."

. . .

Green quickly managed to take control of one of the poker tables. He was so used to going through dangerous happenings during Pokemon battles that he developed a face that didn't twitch a single bit as he was bluffing his way to victory. The tokens he got after exchanging the money Erika gave him have already tripled in quantity and it didn't seem like he was going to stop. He had to remind himself that he wasn't there to have fun, although the shocked faces of all the rich people losing to him were a great boost to his ego. He just won another hand when he felt it was a good time to look around and try to see if Red was anywhere nearby since he didn't see him for quite some time. Instead of finding his friend, he saw a large man with a clean-shaved head and a turtleneck hidden beneath his suit approach him slowly.

"Can I help you with something?" he asked the man after spinning around on his chair so that he would be facing him.

Looking down on him, he responded "Mr. Cebotari has been observing you and ordered me to bring you to him. Seeing as he's one of the most influential people here, refusal would be very unwise."

He cracked his knuckles to make it more clear what he mean with his last words before moving to the side so that Green could get a view of the window on a higher floor behind which was a booth probably belonging to this Mr. Cebotari. The boy tried to inconspicuously look at his pocket to make sure that it wasn't clear that he was hiding a pokeball inside it before agreeing to follow the man. As he passed various tables, he tried to see if he would be able to spot Red and he thought he was able to catch a glimpse of him but didn't have the chance to take a good look since they already reached the door behind which were the stairs leading to the booth.

When they arrived before Mr. Cebotari, Green found himself surprised. He had an image of what people in these kind of places looked like and it was mostly in line with what he saw of other guests but this one seemed so out of place that the inside of the booth seemed like a completely different world to him. He looked like a vaguely eastern elder, he wore pink robes, adorned by patterns made of gold, which were clearly a couple sizes too large, revealing his frail body and multiple tattoos of various monsters which didn't resemble any Pokemon the boy knew about. Instead of looking at his guest, the old man was focused on doing something on his phone while drinking a blue-colored milkshake. The one who led Green to this place pretended to cough in order to gain his boss's attention.

"Oh. Where are my manners?" the man said while looking up from his phone and throwing the milkshake on the floor, causing it to spill "They call me Mr. Cebotari but since I would like us to start out on good terms I'll have you known that my name is Tembo. Now... Why don't you come take a seat next to me?"

Green looked at the other man who to his knowledge was Cebotari's security guard, and knowing that if he didn't agree something bad could happen, he took the elder up on his offer.

"So... What brings you here tonight? I can see everything that's happening in this place..." while saying that, he revealed that his phone contained the camera feed from the casino floor which he could freely swap to other ones "I mean... I saw that you're pretty good at poker but I've never seen you here before. Trust me. I would remember such a pretty face. I guess it could be just that it's your first time and you had beginner's luck buuut... You didn't seem that interested in the fact that you were winning. There's probably a dozen possible explanations. Maybe you're so rich that you don't care that you win some pocket change... but then you would probably play at a table with higher stakes. Maybe you were cheating and this whole time you were sweating, thinking that somebody would catch you... Hmm?"

"Or maybe I had a completely different reason." he responded while moving his hand away from the old man since he thought he saw him reaching for it.

"Explain yourself. Depending on whether I'm satisfied with your answer or not, there are three possible ways it could go. One of them is painful, another is pleasant, another is... painful for you but pleasant for me."

"I didn't come here to gamble. I came here to do business. The problem is that I'm new in town and since I'm young there's a small chance that anyone would take me seriously."

"I'm intrigued. Go on."

The boy was focused on playing his cards correctly since Tembo looked like someone who could smell out a lie, which meant that he had to phrase the sentence in a way that would omit the parts he didn't want the man to know about "Have you ever been to Sevii Islands? Most people don't know it but since it's far from the mainland it's a lot easier to illegal things without being noticed by the law. There is some police there but there's not enough for the whole archipelago. My family uses that to have a secret Pokemon fighting competition every Saturday night. If you help me out, I may even extend an invite to you if you're interested in such things. Anyway, the goal of my visit to Celadon City is that I heard that it's a good market for buying Pokemon. I don't really care about where they come from as long as I can confirm that they are strong enough to survive a battle long enough for people to get excited and put a lot of money into betting on which one will win. So unless you have an idea where I might acquire some new additions to our underground fighting ring, then there's no point in me staying here a second longer."

The security guard glared at Green after hearing his last words but the boy didn't want to bother with giving him any attention.

"So you're here to buy Pokemon, hmm?" Tembo said while looking at ceiling and stroking his chin "You know the saying "the truth shall make you free"? Even if you were a secret agent hoping to put me in a prison, I wouldn't care as long as you would be honest about who you are. In my line of business knowledge is the most important thing. But not just any knowledge. I don't want fake tales. There's no way to turn them into money. The truth is what I desire. I was giving you a way out but you decided to lie to me. I gave you a vague idea of what would happen if I wasn't satisfied with your answer but for the sake of living up to my own ideal of truthfulness, let me elaborate. My muscular friend will f# you up."

"Yeeeah... How about no?" Green responded while revealing the hidden pokeball.

Suddenly the window of the booth shattered as a chair came flying through, scaring Mr. Cebotari so much that he passed out. Green took only a second to see if he wasn't cut anywhere before deciding that whatever happened gave him a better option than trying to attack the guard with his Pokemon, especially since the man immediately ran over to try to wake up his boss.

"I wonder what happened?" the teenager thought to himself as he made his way down the stairs.

. . .

A while earlier, in the main room of the casino, Red was putting in his own efforts in order to find some clues about the missing Pokemon.

"You really haven't heard about those missing Pokemon? I mean, it seems like such a big thing and police can't do anything. That's cra..."

"I don't care! Just roll the stupid dice!" one of the people he was playing against clearly didn't care about what the boy had to say.

The other ones weren't as vocal but the boy could see from their faces that no one would take him seriously until he would prove himself to them in some way. He took the two dice laying on the table in front of him and shook them lightly but still gave himself a second for them to stop moving in his palm before throwing them down. One of the many ways he prepared for his Pokemon battles was learning to throw the pokeballs in such a way that he could make his Pokemon appear anywhere he desired, even learning how to curve it in such a way that they could show up in places that were not in his sight. This helped him greatly in throwing the dice. They rolled onto the table and right as it looked like he was about to roll a low number, the dice collided causing them both to stop with the six-dotted sides facing upward. The other players tried to contain their surprise but a few gasps could be heard anyway.

When he repeated the feat a couple times, taking a large sum of money away from them, no one tried to hide their shock anymore. Instead, some of them tried to make friends with him and pretend that they liked him from the star, probably in order to get on his good side and take back some money or even learn the method he used to get his results.

"What is going on here?"

Everyone turned their attention toward a middle-aged women in an outrageously revealing dress with a cream-colored, puffy scarf around her neck and a smoking a cigarette in a holder.

"Madam Shepel. It's good to see you. This guy is really amazing. He keeps getting boxcars. We had him swap dice a couple times to see if he didn't cheat in some way but it seems like he's really some kind of genius. Counting cards is against the rules but if he's using math to estimate his throw it's probably legal, right?" said one of the other players.

"You fool. If he's unable to see the dice, how could he know about how to throw them. He could always throw them in a certain way, making them land in a specific way but he wouldn't know which side would come up." the woman explained while looking disappointed by how easily the others were impressed, although she herself looked interested with how the boy was able to do it.

His secret was in being able to see the dice for just a fraction of a second before he released them and tapping them slightly with his finger as they rolled out of his hand in order to slightly adjust their trajectory. Right as he was preparing to make another throw, this Madam Shepel decided to get better acquainted with him, leaning on one of his shoulders with both her hands serving as support to her head. Her sight was fixated on his hands but she kept breathing into the teenager's ear, wanting to see if he would be still able to do his roll while under pressure.

He tried to ignore her, not wanting to cause a scene that would make him unable to gain any potential information from these people but he still couldn't stop himself from glancing at her. He wasn't into older women so the feeling of her breasts touching his back made him rather uncomfortable. When he looked at her, there was something that seemed wrong but he couldn't immediately tell what it was. It took him only a second or two but the realization of what was off immediately caused a multitude of thoughts to pop up in his head.

"Is... Is this scarf..." he muttered while trying not to jump to conclusions.

"Oh, this? You have a good eye. It was made from the tail of a Ninetales belonging to a special breed. They shine more beautifully than the regular run-of-the-mill tails do. It was very expensive but definitely worth it. You should see it in the daylight." she explained.

The boy already foresaw what this would lead to but he decided to ask further questions in order not to feel bad about what was going to happen "So you cut off a Ninetales' tail?"

"I don't do it, you silly. I pay someone else to do it." she responded while gently tapping the end of his nose with her index finger.

"And what happens to the Pokemon after its tail is cut off?"

"I don't know. They probably cut off all the tails at the same time since it would bleed out. Or maybe they are already dead when they do that? Their pelts are also pretty popular to..." she stopped since she felt that the boy slipped away from under her and she was about to trip and fall onto the table.

She stopped herself but suddenly realized that it was not enough. Red grabbed the back of her head and put in all of his force in order to slam her face into the desk. The woman passed out, leaving a cracked table, a bunch of teeth and a smear of blood.

"Oh no." the boy said after his anger subsided a little and realized that although he didn't regret doing that to the woman per se but doing it in a casino full of people that know her and security guards probably wasn't a good idea.

The people at the same table as him thankfully seemed too shocked to immediately do anything about what just happened and the noise in this place was enough to not have anyone else notice. That gave him a chance to start running away. Unfortunately, he only managed to make it a couple meters while maneuvering between the tables when one person called over two security guards. They couldn't know what has happened so quickly so they probably wouldn't immediately go all out. The boy decided to bet on that and jumped onto a table in order to launch himself and deliver a rising kick to the chin of one of them. When he landed, the other one was momentarily surprised by his co-worker being taken out so easily which allowed the boy to punch him in the gut.

It turned out that the man's belly was protected by hard muscles. He felt a little pain but was instantly ready to repay the favor by grabbing Red and throwing him in the air. The boy's fall was cushioned by a waiter who had the misfortune of being his landing spot. Red checked if the person was fine before getting up and seeing that more of the security guards were moving in his direction. When one was particularly close, the teenager grabbed onto a nearby empty chair and spun around in order to throw it as hard as possible. He underestimated his strength and his target barely had to dodge as the chair flew over his head and crashed through a window of one of the booths'. More and more of the guards were closing in as he made his way by jumping from table to table. One of them finally managed to grab onto his ankle, almost making him fall in the process, when suddenly a foot appeared out of nowhere to deliver a kick to the man's face.

"I really can't leave you by yourself, can I?" Green commented while approaching him together with his Hitmonlee who was the one responsible for saving Red "Although I also got into a bit of trouble."

"Well, what now? I don't think there's a chance we'll learn anything with things like this."

"You're right. I don't see Erika anywhere but let's hope that no one will remember that she was with us and make our way towards the main door."

They advanced as quickly as possible, having Hitmonlee kick away anyone who wanted to obstruct their way. It seemed almost too easy. They soon realized that it was because of the fact that most of the security grouped up near the exit, ready to take them on. The boys stopped in their tracks not too far away from a wall made up of muscular men when out of nowhere, the belts holding their pokeballs flew over the heads of the guards and into the boys' hands. One of the men turned around in order to see who did that but Erika was already out of the casino, calling her chauffer to arrive as soon as possible and hoping that her new friends would find a way to get out of trouble. There was also a chance that she would need to swallow her pride and ask her father for help since someone could go through the camera footage and see that she assisted the boys which could very well spell future problems for her.

Inside of the building, Red and Green attached their belts before considering their options while the guards kept their distance after seeing Hitmonlee extend his leg in order to kick someone who was hoping to attack them from the back.

"Got a plan?" Green asked while also trying to come up with something.

"Yeah. I mean, it's not good but... Go, Charmeleon and Pidgeotto!"

"Watch out! They're going to do something!" the one who looked like he was commanding the rest of the group yelled to the others.

"I will need your jacket though." Red turned to his friend.

"Wait. What?"

Instead of answering his question, the trainer immediately followed up with an order for his Pokemon "Charmeleon, use Smokescreen!"

The Fire Pokemon released a dark cloud from his mouth which proved all the more effective in the dimly lit casino. When it disappeared after more than half a minute, the guards had already surrounded the table the boys stood on but it turned out that they were long gone.

"Hey! I found their jackets! They must be trying to blend with the crowd!" one of them yelled, causing most of the group to start searching in that direction, unaware that Red used Pidgeotto to quickly drop off their clothes in that place in order to throw their pursuers off.

Meanwhile, the boys put their Pokemon back in the balls and have found their way to some kind of place that didn't look like it was for guests. There were various boxes and containers, probably holding things like alcohol, additional chips, cards and dice. There was a lot less cameras there so it would be easier to avoid being seen by them. They looked around, hoping to find a different way to get out of the building. They carefully checked a bunch of rooms, at least as carefully as time would allow them since they were sure that the security would finally realize their ruse and start to check other areas.

Right as they opened one of the doors, out of nowhere they heard a voice "Hey! What the hell are you doing here?! This place is off-limits to casino guests!"

They looked at the man calling them and judged by his scrawny build and casual clothes that he couldn't possibly be part of the group following them. What's more, he didn't seem to know what was going on in the main part of the Celadon Palace. The two parties looked at each other for a while, confused about who the other one could be but as this went on for several seconds all of them got a weird feeling that they knew each other from somewhere. The man seemed to realize the reason for that earlier than them because his face quickly shifted from confusion to anger.

"Why? Why the hell do I always run into you?! Is your goal to watch me suffer as your interruptions cause my position in Team Rocket get worse and worse with each failure?!"

"Team Rocket..." Red repeated as he tried to use this clue to decipher the man's identity "Oh! You're Roger, aren't you?! Maaan, long time no see. I haven't seen you since that time in Vermilion City,"

"He doesn't even remember that I was there during the battle for M2. This asshole... I'll make him pay!" these were the thoughts he had as he looked down, trying to remain calm, slowly searching the back of his belt for the pokeball containing his strongest Pokemon.

He finally found it and looked back toward the two teenagers but instead saw the sole of Hitmonlee's foot right before being knocked out by it.

"I... Did you have to do that so quickly?" Red looked at Green with a disappointed expression "That was our chance to find out if this whole disappearing Pokemon case is related to Team Rocket."

Green quickly flicked his friend's forehead and once again returned Hitmonlee to his ball before explaining the reason for his actions "We already got something better. Consider this for a moment; this jackass acted like if he belonged in this place while being angry at us being here. What would a Team Rocket member be doing here unless this place is somehow related to them?"

"But from what I saw of him, he isn't anyone important. And he didn't dress too fancy. So he probably wasn't here to do business. Maybe he wanted to steal some wine?"

"I think there's more to this than meets the eye. Let's keep looking." Green responded before going into the room they were about to enter right as Roger interrupted them.

"It's empty." Red commented since in fact there didn't seem to be anything besides a single light hanging from the ceiling.

"What do we have here?" Green asked, not really targeting the question at his rival.

He found a piece of wall that looked slightly off-color and pushed it, causing a to go in and slide to the side, revealing what looked like a device one needed to slide an electronic card through in order to do some yet unknow thing. He went outside and searched Roger's pockets, managing to quickly find what he was looking for.

"What do you think is going to happen?" asked Red.

"I don't know. But better stand back in case there's some kind of way for it to recognize that we're not that guy." Green said before using the card.

For a while it seemed like nothing would happen but suddenly the floor opened and from within rose what looked like an elevator. The doors opened and Green peeked inside to see if it was safe before motioning to his friend to follow him. It seemed like it could fit about 15 people. Judging by the buttons, it seemed to them like there was only one other floor it stopped at. They wondered how deep underground it would take them but there was no other way to find out than to wait. Green pressed the button and they started descending. They felt like the elevator was moving fairly quickly so even though Green decided to use his watch to count the time it would take them to get down in order to estimate how deep they went, he couldn't get a clear answer. It took them a little more than half a minute so they couldn't be too deep.

"Do you seen anyone?" Red asked his friend who went outside first once they arrived at their destination.

"No. But take look at this."

The elevator led them to another room, this one made completely out of metal. It had electronic doors leading somewhere but it didn't look like they required the use of the card since the fact that someone managed to get there meant that the person already used it to get in the elevator. They went through them and found themselves in a corridor with no visible end since the walls curved as they went on. On the other side, next to the doors, was a small sign reading "Celadon Palace elevator".

"Why did you have to invite Roger? That moron is just going to embarrass us. Remember what he did at that party last month?" they heard a voice coming from the left, and it sounded like whoever it belonged to was getting closer.

"He's not so bad once you get to know him a little better. Just a tad bit clumsy. I try to consider everyone's situation before criticizing them."

"Maybe you're right... But did you hear that he refuses to bathe more than once a week since he thinks that's a waste of water? You can't tell me that's not disgusting?"

The two people walking towards the elevator were so occupied by their conversation that they didn't immediately notice the boys waiting for them. One of them caught something in the corner of his eye and his first thought was that it was probably Roger, waiting for them, so he immediately shut up and began to look worried about the fact that he might have heard them.

"Hey, man. How's it going? We definitely weren't just..." he stopped himself after seeing that it was someone else "Uuh... You aren't Roger."

"Maybe they're new recruits. I didn't hear about any but I don't even remember like half the people in this place." said the other one.

"Yeah. We actually got lost on our way to the... place where we hold the stolen Pokemon." Green immediately tried to get some information out of them but it didn't work like his plan worked.

"Stolen Pokemon? What the hell are you talking about?" asked one of them.

"Yeah. We have that breeding room since a couple years ago. I think that Mr. Alex took a bunch of his guys to get some Pokemon at Mt. Moon a while back but that's not really stealing, right?"

The pair looked at them suspiciously so Green decided to exchange glances with his friend in order to let him know that his lie didn't work out and it was time for action.

"Go, Gloom!"

"What's going on?!"

"Use Sleep Powder!"

His quick thinking allowed Red to take care of the Team Rocket members without causing any ruckus. He put his Pokemon back in his ball and together with Green decided that they should move swiftly and stealthily in order not to get noticed by anyone else and to figure out what this place was before the people they just met would wake up and raise the alarm.

"Do you have some kind of plan? Or are we just going to search blindly?" Red inquired as they ran through the long corridor without any other doors in sight.

"They said that they don't steal Pokemon. Why would they lie about that if they thought that we're also part of Team Rocket? Maybe they didn't know about it because they're low ranking members but it's also entirely possible that we're barking up the wrong tree. But it still looks like we're in some kind of base. We can't be sure if it's their main one or not but there's a chance that we can find something that will allow us to throw a wrench in their plans."

"That doesn't really explain my question."

"Don't you want to do something?"

"Of course I do! When it comes to kicking Team Rocket's ass then I'm the guy who should get first dibs because of all those times I already did it! But even I can see that it's going to be hard if we're suddenly surrounded by a bunch of them!"

"Then keep quiet and look around. Maybe there's a map somewhere. With how long we've been running without seeing anything, I get a feeling that this place is rather big."

Not too long after they finished arguing they reached the end of the corridor and a pair of doors. They wanted to carefully sneak inside but as soon as they got there they found themselves in an enormous room with multiple doors and a bunch of Team Rocket members, some in uniforms, some not, talking to each other in groups of various sizes. At first they hoped that acting like they belonged would help them blend in but someone spotted them right away and although they lost their jackets in the casino, both of them were dressed suspiciously enough to attract attention.

"Hey! Who are you?!" a red-headed girl in Team Rocket clothes shouted from the other side of the room.

She was so loud that she caused everyone to turned their heads and check out who she was yelling at. Green was ready to reach for one his pokeballs but Red decided to step forward so that this time he could try his hand at fooling the criminals.

"We're the people chosen by Giovanni to be the new admins after the previous one failed in trying to retrieve M2!" he announced, hoping that his knowledge of these specific things would be enough to convince them.

"Prove it!" the girl responded while starting to approach them "If that's actually true, I'm prepared to receive a punishment for my insubordination. But if you're lying... then this won't end well for you."

Her suspicions started spreading to the others and a bunch of people moved around in order to block all possible escape paths. The girl and many others each took out a pokeball and threw them into air, summoning a small army of Zubats, Ekanses, Grimers, Voltorbs and Magnemites. With such a big force, trying to fight with only one or two Pokemon would be an impossible task. On the other hand, being able to split your attention and control a bunch of Pokemon at the same time would be even harder, but Red and Green saw no other choice than doing that.

"Go, everyone!" they shouted simultaneously.

Gyarados made the biggest impression simply by being so large that his head was reaching the rather high ceiling.

"I see that most of your Pokemon evolved. I also never saw you using this Pidgeotto before." Green commented.

"That's because I caught her fairly recently. But I see that you also have some new additions. A Vulpix and a Horsea. Wait..."

Red stopped an stared in awe after realizing that although Jigglypuff and Nidorina still didn't reach their next forms, Ivysaur already evolved into a Venusaur.

"Oh man. That's so cool. I should have expected that it would reach its final form sooner than Charmeleon since you had him even before I got Charmander."

"What's more impressive is that Magikarp managed to evolve into a Gyarados. That kinda makes me regret that I gave up on him and handed him to you."

"What are you all waiting for?! Attack them!" the redheaded girl shouted to the other criminals since for a while they were too intimidated by the impressive assembly of Pokemon "Zubats, formation A-4!"

Although her Zubat moved into position, the rest remained in place until the moment when they received individual orders from their trainers. Seeing that, Green came to the conclusion that although Team Rocket were probably good at executing group tactics, without someone that everyone would listen to, it was harder for them to act in unison. The fact that they were using specific formations also made it easier since that meant their movements would be easier to predict and any disruption to their plans would force each Team Rocket member to think for himself which they probably weren't used to.

"Red, I notic..."

"Wreak havoc, everyone!" the other boy shouted while extending his hand towards the direction of the biggest group of opponents.

Pidgeotto was the fastest, flying by a row of Zubats who without getting an order couldn't help but fall prey to her Aerial Ace. Raichu and Eevee followed, using Quick Attack to swiftly deal with multiple of the non-flying opponents. Gyarados didn't need to use any particular moves since him crashing his big body into groups of enemies was effective enough. Gloom and Charmeleon also contributed in their respective ways. Seeing that, Green smiled since he understood that he was overthinking their situation as he tended to do.

"Let's follow Red's lead!" he announced to his team who happily obliged.

What they didn't notice was that one of the criminals used the door he was next to in order to escape. They continued their assault, their Pokemon barely receiving any damage.

"It looks like there's only a couple left." Red commented.

"Watch out!" Green shouted as he pulled his friend away from a foe who left without any Pokemon wanted to try and take things into his own hands.

What he got instead was an uppercut from the teenager who had to immediately massage his fist after making the man pass out.

Red wanted to thank him but something caught his attention "Hmm? What is that weird smell?"

"What smell? I don't..." Green stopped himself when he saw that a bunch of people and Pokemon were suddenly falling to the ground as if they were puppets whose strings have been cut "There's something wrong. We have to..."

He couldn't finish since he also passed out. Red tried to stop his friend from hitting the floor but he felt too drowsy to do anything and both of them fell down. Gyarados was the last living being remaining awake. Worried about crushing his friends, he placed himself on the floor before falling asleep. After everyone was already down, the thug who left a while earlier came back, accompanied by some gray-haired scientist in a lab coat and a Muk, with both of the humans wearing gas masks.

"It's a good thing that you informed me about this. I was working on being able to turn my test subject's gas invisible and my researched proved to be an astounding success. Also a nice use of the ventilation system if I can say so myself. If they really were as strong as you said, it's far better to handle things this way instead of wasting time and efforts."

"But what are we going to do with them now?" the underling inquired.

"There's no protocol for this kind of thing so the easiest course of action would be to report this to the highest ranked officer currently in the base. Doctor Humane just left so that would be..."

"Admin Alex?"

"Yes. I already feel sorry for these two. Although whatever he does them will probably be better than if Peter got his hands on them so in a way they're kinda lucky."

"I don't know. I worked directly under Alex on one mission and I have to say that I think they're completely out of luck."

* * *

I'm back with the speed of a mountain goat in a vat of pudding. Finally we're at the end of this mini Celadon arc. It came out a lot longer than expected. I wonder it managed to surpass the Vermilion City story going by word count, and ignoring the Special Chapter. Even though this was the longest regular chapter yet, there's still a lot of things I wished I could fit in here, like explaining more of who Cebotari and Shepel were exactly before kicking them out of the story(Their names don't have any important meaning. I just have a job where I deal with a lot of foreigners so I jot down any neat sounding names in case I ever want to use them in my fanfic. Some of them will be a little changed to suit my tastes and I don't really care if something is a first or a last name and will use it however I want). In my original plan the fight with Team Rocket at the end was actually supposed to take up like half the chapter and I planned to name it "The Dirty Dozen" or something along those lines. Instead I went with this title that refers that initially makes you think of losing at the casino but later on proves to be referring to the fact that Red finally lost again Team Rocket(Not that I know anyone who has been waiting for this). Red so far has been pretty much unbeatable. The two times he met someone stronger than him, Faust and Cross, their battles were inconclusive. Even this one wasn't technically a fair win but rest assured that there will yet come a time when he'll be humbled.

On the other hand we have Green who's hanging around Red made him start to doubt his intelligence and rely more on instincts, although he's probably not too happy about this. Also, I decided not to follow up on the stuff from three chapters ago since it felt like I would be forcing it into this already packed story. That doesn't mean that he forgot about. Whenever you watch a tv show or an anime or whatever, the characters seem to get too easily hung up on various stuff and there may be people who are actually like that in real life but I rarely met any so I don't feel like writing characters like that is realistic. Normal people know when to put the stuff they worry about in the back of their head in order to focus on the matter at hand and there doesn't have to be anything said about it. We're just kinda chill like that.

Since I said the last time tha we'll be going into a new arc, then if you care about this fanfic to any degree, you're probably wondering what will happen in the future. A thing I can reveal is something that most definitely won't happen although it was in my original plans. There was supposed to be a time skip. Saying how long it would be is a spoiler but just know that there was a good reason why I decided against it. At first I just wanted to have an empty period of time and later on realized that some things wouldn't make sense or would seem like asspulls so I thought I could do like a flashback arc to show what happened but finally I settled on placing it in its proper place in the story. Because of that there are a couple elements that I had to move to an earlier point in the timeline so that they could intertwine nicely. The biggest reveal I can give you is that just like Green, Blue will finally return to the story.

I'm also working on another side story. It's about a certain character that already appeared but that you don't know too much about yet. I'm writing it on my phone when I'm in a car or on a bus and don't feel like playing Pokemon GO or browsing Reddit, so it doesn't get in the way of me writing the main story. It's also written in first person so we'll see how that works out. Also, since it's not important to the plot, I'll just release it when/if it's finished.

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmeleon, Raichu, Gloom, Gyarados, Pidgeotto.

Badges: 4 (He probably got it off-screen when they visited the Gym)

Green. Team: Venusaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, Horsea.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Bellsprout(Bell), Wartortle(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, ?, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.


	35. 29: Rocket Man

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 29: Rocket Man.

Darkness. Red tried closing his eyes and opening them back again but there was no difference. The uneasiness of not being able where he was became big enough to cloud his mind and prevented him from remembering how he could have got himself in such a situation. The thing that helped him cope with this was his touch.

He tried to stand up after noticing that he was sitting, propped up against what felt like any other wall, but when he tried to move his hands there came feeling that they couldn't stray too far from each other. He moved his fingers around and inspected what must have been a pair of handcuffs. Having this information to work with, he made a couple assumptions. First off, he wasn't dead. Secondly, by trying to swing his body to sides he came to know that there was enough space for some movement, more than he would have if he was in even a fairly big coffin. So they didn't kill him and it didn't seem like they planned to, at least not yet.

"They?" he thought to himself as he struggled to focus on the most recent memory before waking up.

He remembered meeting Erika, getting annoyed with her and challenging her to a fight. They solved their differences and after that Green appeared.

"Green!" Red shouted as cold sweat suddenly ran over his body after remembering that he wasn't alone before passing out.

Even though he still didn't understand what happened, he started to recall their adventure at the casino and how they entered Team Rocket's base and fought against a bunch of the criminals. He tried to analyze why they would want to keep him as a prisoner instead of getting rid of him and whether it was possible that his friend was in a similar situation. There were people at Team Rocket who were familiar with him and could possibly try to torture him in hopes of getting out information on how to open the cave Cross closed himself within. But aside from being his acquaintance, there was no reason for them to believe that Green could provide them with any such intel.

"Calm down."

He forced himself to stop worrying after noticing that his breathing got irregular from all these worrisome thoughts. Since he couldn't see even a sliver of light, he couldn't tell if the place he was in had any doors. If it did, it would mean that the cracks in them were fairly small and that he didn't have a lot of oxygen to work with. What would be worse is there being no escape route at all, which meant that each breath was actually bringing him closer to death. Already calmed down, he decided against trying to do any excessive movements in case the second option was the true one. But that would mean that he still would die, the only difference being that he would have more time to come to terms with his death. Many other similar thoughts occupied his head for what could be either minutes or hours since his dark confinement was getting to his head and keeping him from being able to relax in any way, starting to mess with his perception of time.

At some point his thoughts were interrupted by what he thought was a sound of steps somewhere in front of him. Since his eyes got used to the darkness, he could tell that there wasn't anyone in the room but it certainly seemed like there was someone very close to it. The wall in front of him, which he realized at that moment was in fact a door, opened, letting in a light so bright that because of the darkness he was kept in, he had to close his eyes and slowly open them to get acclimated to the new brightness.

Soon after, two Team Rocket members entered the room. His eyes wandered between their faces, but neither were instantly recognizable. They could very well be someone he encountered in the past but aside from the admins and Roger, whom he was able to remember mostly thanks to the fact that he heard his name the first time they met, he couldn't tell any of the criminals apart. What was clear to him however was that they didn't come there to hurt him. One of them stood by the door while the other approached the teenager, carrying a tray of food in his hands. There was an apple cut into 6 slices, a cup of juice, soup with a bunch of vegetables swimming in it, a bowl of rice, a cooked fish and a small bottle of soy sauce.

"We don't want any trouble. I'm going to place the tray on the floor and take off your handcuffs so that you can eat. Try to be quick with it. The soup isn't too hot so that shouldn't be a problem. And don't try anything. We have stun batons and, even if you try to run away, you're in what we call the prison block, one of the few places that are constantly being filmed by a bunch of cameras." the person said before pausing in order to give Red a chance to respond.

The boy nodded and soon after he was taken out of his cuffs. He massaged his wrists which became slightly sore and looked towards the tray of food with suspicion. There was no reason to think that there was any poison in it but there were still other possibilities, like a truth serum or just drugs that would make him more prone to following suggestions. He didn't get a chance to think through these ideas too much since he realized how hungry he has become. While his mind was occupied with other things it was hard to notice but once he was presented with the food, his urges surfaced. He picked up the tray and put it atop his crossed legs as he sat with his back to the wall. The person who gave it to him kept a watchful eye for about a minute before looking away, either bored or weirded out, turning to their friend to have a chat with them.

Red quickly went through each of the dishes, completely forgetting for some time about the situation he found himself in. Even though he was hurrying, it took over ten minutes to finish everything. He took a sip of water at the beginning but left the rest for the end in case he would get hiccups from eating too fast. The other two didn't seem to notice that he was done with his meal, being too invested in their conversation, so he pretended to cough after putting the tray on the floor, in order to get to their attention. They noticed that and the one who gave it to him, quickly picked it up and handed it to his friend. After that, Red allowed himself to be handcuffed again. It looked like they were about to leave but after taking another look at the tray, the teenager came up with an idea that could help him to get a better understanding of his situation.

"Can I ask you something?"

One of them was already inside but the other person, preparing to leave, turned around and stared him down before responding "We were told to bring you food but I'm not sure that we're allowed to provide you with any information."

"Welllll... It's more of a request. It's a little embarrassing but... I need to go to the toilet."

The criminal turned to his colleague, as if they hoped to get an answer to the question of what they should do in such a situation. But since there was no response, they looked back at the boy and approached him while out a black piece of material from their pocket. Whoever ordered them to bring him food, apparently was also prepared for this. After putting the blindfold on Red, the two people lead him to the toilet. He counted the steps in order to estimate the distance but it turned out that it wasn't too far away so there was nothing to be learned. One of them went inside the stall to make sure there wasn't anything that could be used as a weapon before letting the teenager out of his handcuffs and taking off the blindfold. They allowed him to do his business in peace and to even wash his hands before covering his eyes again and leading him back to his room. After making sure that everything was in order, they were sure that this time they could actually leave.

"By the way..." Red interrupted them again "...Is this complete darkness supposed to psych me out or are you just trying to cut back on electricity usage?"

This time, the Team Rocket member didn't look too happy. It seemed like they didn't like Red's attitude but they still turned to their companion in order to get their opinion but the other one just shrugged so the first one decided to leave to not answer the boy's question and to leave without turning on any lights.

"Aaah. Next time I'll have to try and be nicer." he said to himself while trying to find a more comfortable position, although the cuffs didn't make it easy "I hope that Green and the Pokemon are okay."

. . .

The interactions with the two lackeys made Red a lot calmer and even though he wasn't happy about spending his time in this small, dark room, he could think a little clearer. He decided that it was too early to think about ways of escaping. As long as he was kept alive, an opportunity was bound to appear. Because of that, he decided to find some other ways to occupy his mind. During the next couple hours, he hummed a bunch of his favorite songs, thought extensively about how he would tell his parents about his journey if he ever returned home, and finally got bored and tried to take a nap.

"Rise and shine." a familiar voice woke him up before he managed to properly fall asleep.

He lifted himself off the floor and noticed that the room was lit up by a light hidden behind the panels covering the ceiling and in front of him was none other than Alex, the Team Rocket Admin he met inside the caves of Mt. Moon.

"It's so good to finally meet you again. I've been hearing about you, on the TV and from the two assholes I have to put up with, and at last we're reunited. It's a shame that it happened in this way. I'm sure you put up a good fight before being caught. I'm also sorry that it took so long for me to visit. I was kinda busy. But I assure you that I came as fast as I could after learning that you're being held. I heard that you already ate but I brought a bottle of juice just in case, and I turned on the lights since I wanted this place to feel more welcoming even though it's... you know.. basically a prison." the man stopped himself after realizing that it must have sounded like he was rambling "But enough about that. What's up with you? How did you get yourself into this? Overall, how are you feeling?"

"I know that I acted friendly when we first met but that was because we were in a position where we felt, I assume, a mutual respect for each other. There isn't anything similar about this situation. You seem like a smart guy so I won't pretend that I like the situation I'm in since that would insult your intelligence. It will be a lot easier if I'll just ask you... What do you want from me? Not what you "expect" but what you "want"."

"You sure seem to understand that I prefer when people tell me things I want to hear. But I won't get mad even if you disappoint me. I've got ways of changing your mind even if how you respond to what I want doesn't align with my desire. Without beating around the bush, I want you to join Team Rocket." he looked down after saying that and his eyes wandered around the room "I think this would work better if I had a chair to sit in backwards, and maybe a baseball hat. But I assume your answer would either way be..."

"Sure thing." Red finished the sentence.

"Hey, hey, hey. Buddy, you're making this too easy. I want you to join but I also need to have my fun before that. Don't you have your own desires that would collide with what I want? You should at least make some requests before agreeing and I would be like "Heh, no way in hell". Got anything like that?"

"I hoped that giving you the thing you want right off the bat would speed things up."

"Well, no. You're wrong. A person whose ready to give up everything in their life without as much as a single question isn't someone I could trust and expect others to trust. Right now, you're a card I'm about to gamble on. I have yet to decide if the risk is worth it. Come at me with what you've got in my and I promise to treat everything you say seriously. How's that for a deal?"

"Alright. The thing I should probably start with is asking you if my Pokemon and my friend are safe. So... are they?"

"They are. Your Pokemon are kept in their pokeballs and in a machine that keeps them in something like stasis. They won't get hungry or try to escape since feeding them would be too hard without the risk of them trying to attack our people. The other guy is in a room much like this one. We treated him in the same way as you although he seemed less relaxed than you are when I talked to him."

"You visited him before me?"

"I was curious about the kind of people you hang out with. I didn't expect Professor Oak's grandson. I already gave him a similar offer but I can't reveal to you what kind of answer he gave me. I will come to a decision only after hearing you both out and taking my time to think things over."

"Alright. I don't want to tire you out by bombarding you with all the questions I have so I'll ask just one more for now before allowing you to leave."

"Allowing me to leave, huh?"

"Is Team Rocket responsible for the Pokemon disappearances in Celadon City?"

Alex seemed surprised that this would be the one thing the boy needed to know, showing that he wasn't so good at psychoanalyzing as he would like to think himself to be, but he gave his response straight away "No. That's not us. Assuming that this is what brought this question on, the things we did at Mt. Moon were an organized operation. Stealing Pokemon at random isn't our style and doesn't sound too smart either. It's probably the work of these fools from Darkness Gang or some other lowlifes. But it saddens me that you would ask such a question. After talking to me some more and learning about us, you'll come to learn that Team Rocket isn't as bad as people think us to be. A lot of us are just... bitter. I prefer not to think of myself in this way but... trust works both ways. I'll bare my soul for you because of how much I think you would be worth to our cause."

Red was taken aback by Alex's words. He wasn't about to believe everything he just heard without going over it in his head but the saddened look on the man's face, when he was leaving the room, felt genuine.

. . .

Alex kept returning to visit Red every day of the following week. As they discussed various stuff that about the boy's journey and the thing the man could reveal about Team Rocket, they started to trust each other. To make him feel more welcome, the Admin provided him with ways to improve his stay there day by day. He received a bed and he didn't have to wear the handcuffs as long as he was in his room. The following day he was presented with a device that would alarm a nearby guard in case he would need to go visit to the toilet. The day after that, Alex noticed that Red began to smell and allowed him to take a shower while also providing him with a change of clothes, the standard uniform worn by Team Rocket members. On the fourth day, the man asked him if he wanted to lend him any of his books so that he wouldn't get too bored by his stay in the room. It was already the seventh day, and Alex came to visit Red once again, this time being the one who brought him his lunch instead of the usual duo of henchmen.

"How's it going, boy wonder?"

"Please... don't ever call me that again." Red responded in a joking tone, while showing his face from behind the book he was reading.

"I have good news for you. I'm ready to release you from this place." Alex said while placing the tray with food on the bed.

"You can't be serious. There is no reason for you to trust me this much. I want to get out of here eventually but I expected to earn your trust."

"The fact that you're willing to do anything possible in order to get out is already enough. I can't check if I'm right by trusting you without giving you room to prove your loyalty."

"Okay. But before that... There's some final things we should talk about."

"They're not going to be final. It's not like you're just going to go back to how things were before you were captured but... Yeah, sure. Go ahead."

"We talked a lot about what Team Rocket's activities and it seemed like a lot of the stuff you said were opposite of what the public perceives you... us... to be like."

"Not really. We are breaking various laws in order to reach our goal and that doesn't sit well with the public. Our goals may seem selfish but... Each and every one of us is mostly looking out for themselves. Even if you make some friends here, you still won't trust someone completely. We're all just people who went through some shit in their lives and decided to gather around the boss since his charisma when talking about how he's going to change the world is just that infectious. While I may care only for myself, I think that the boss truly wants everyone to be happy... Well... mostly everyone. I've never killed anyone but if someone gets in our way, we're not afraid to hurt them in order to get what we want. This organization kept growing for years and when we'll finally get M2, we will be able to take control of Kanto. From what you told me about yourself, you've lived a pretty leisurely life. I don't want to make myself sound weak but... I don't think any of the physical scars you got during your journey are as palpable as emotional ones I or any other person in this place received. We could talk about it someday but today... today is about you."

"Alright. I'm nothing if not a... Is there like a name for a person who likes to do new things?"

"Adventurous?"

"Is that what that means? Well, let's go with that. If you claim that Team Rocket isn't as bad as people paint it to be, I'm willing to see the other side of the,,,:

"The coin?"

"Wow. You're really good with your words."

"And you're really good at talking in a way where I'm not sure if you're trying to make fun of me. But the important thing is that we agree... For now."

"For now."

They exchanged a handshake which signified the benefit of the doubt they were willing to give each other.

. . .

"So this is my new place?" Red asked Alex after being led by him to a completely furnished room in another part of the underground complex "Hmm? There are two beds here. Is it wise to put me in and Green in the same room?"

"It's not. That's why you'll be living in different rooms, even on different floors. We've assigned you a roommate whose job from now on is going to be keeping an eye on you and reporting any suspicious behavior. If you behave and show good results as a Team Rocket member, I'll tell him to relax bit by bit." Alex explained.

"And where is that...?"

"I'm here! Private Nets reporting for duty!" a voice coming somewhere from inside the room interrupted Red's question.

They looked around and, without saying anything, agreed that the owner of the voice must have been in the closet built into a wall. After approaching it, Alex opened it and someone rolled out of there like a gumball from a machine. The person was a red-headed, scrawny boy with big, round glasses, placed on his forehead instead of the eyes. He quickly got up and looked around before realizing that he couldn't see without his spectacles. He put them on his nose and surveyed the area once again.

"Sir Alex! It's an honor to see you!" he shouted way too loud while bowing, almost hitting the Admin with his head.

"You're not a private. This isn't an army. We don't have a rank like that." Alex said while letting out a sigh "What were you doing inside there anyway?"

"I was moving some of my stuff to make space for my new roommate but I got tangled up in a bunch of cables. Speaking of "roommate"..." he turned his head towards Red "...You must be the one. It's nice to meet you. I'm your senior here so don't be afraid to ask me about anything you're unsure of."

Ignoring the hand the boy was extending to him, Red looked at Alex with a worried face "Are you sure about this?"

"I wanted you to feel welcome. There's a lot of people here who lost to you in the past so I couldn't put you together in a room with any of them. Nets doesn't really leave this building since he's part of our science division so he has no reason to bear a grudge. He may not look like it but he's pretty smart. In some ways he's smarter than me."

"Getting praised like that by you, Sir... I'm truly not worthy." the redhead said while getting ready to kneel on one leg.

"Alright, alright. Calm down." Alex ordered him "I actually have a mission for you."

"A mission?" the scientist immediately perked up.

"It's nothing special. I just want you to not leave Red out of your sight. If he wants to go to the toilet or to take a shower, you're to go as far with him as you can without invading his privacy. After eating dinner, you're to dismantle the electronic lock so that he won't be able to leave this room during the night."

"But why such preca..."

"I'm not done talking. Lastly, I'll contact you tomorrow and you're to bring Red to the place I specify. Is that clear?"

"I... Yes, Sir!

. . .

The rest of the day passed uneventfully. At first, Nets tried to get out of Red the reason for why he was to be under his surveillance but when he refused to answer him about a dozen times, he decided to give up. He did exactly as ordered and the next day, when he received a message from Alex, he led his roommate to the location chosen by the Admin. Instead of the metal floor, there was ground beneath their feet and white lines painted on it. Red instantly understood that this must have been a placed used for Pokemon battles. It had balconies protected by hardened glass, for observers, and what looked like a device that could somehow change the appearance of the battlefield. But what got Red's attention was that he finally was able to see his friend, Green, who was already waiting there with Alex and another Team Rocket member, probably the person he shared his room with. Green also noticed him but he didn't feel from him the same excitement that was rising up within his own body.

"Alright, alright. Toot sweet, greet each other, guys. We're going to get down to business." Alex said, seeing how reluctant they looked about talking to each other.

"Hi." said Red.

"Yeah... I mean... I'm glad that we both chose to agree... Did he t..."

"Hey, hey. That's enough, my boy." Alex interrupted him before turning to Nets and the other henchmen "You two will wait outside. We should be done in a couple minutes."

The two of them looked at each other with confusion before leaving the room.

"So, are you ready?" Alex asked enthusiastically.

"You still haven't told us what it is we're going to be doing." said Green "It looks like you want to have a Pokemon battle with us for whatever reason but we don't have our Pokemon with us. Unless you brought them out of that stasis thing?"

"Close, but no cigar. I want to test your abilities. I've already fought Red in the past but I didn't bring my best game with me that time. I shouldn't preach about fairness since I'm a "bad guy" but that time it was a 1 versus 3 type of deal. This time I'll be the one getting a handicap. What I mean by that is that I can't give you your Pokemon until you gain my trust. That's why each of you will get a Pokemon from me as a show of good will. We'll have a battle to test out your compatibility. You'll probably lose but that's a first step to winning sometime in the future. We'll have these battles daily until you win. I'll also allow you to train with these new Pokemon whenever and however you wish to do it. Is that a good enough explanation?"

"It'll do." Green answered begrudgingly.

"Here they are." the Admin said while presenting them with two pokeballs, allowing the boys to pick whichever they wanted.

They looked at each other to make it clear which one they would be reaching for, even though it had no meaning if they didn't know what Pokemon they were getting.

"Go!"

After releasing their new partners from their pokeballs, the first thing that stood out was that both of their Pokemon were purple, which seemed in line with what most of Team Rocket were using in Red's past encounters with them. Even though he never met one, Red recognized the Pokemon he got as one of the Pokemon who took part in that Pokemon League battle which got him interested in becoming a trainer in the first place. That Pokemon was Nidorino. He greeted him and recognized that it must have received some training beforehand since its response seemed unnaturally calm and respectful for their first meeting.

"A Jynx, huh?" Green commented while looking at his Pokemon "I probably would never try to catch one but I can work with this."

"I see that you're both satisfied." said Alex "So, who will be the first one to face me?"

Red looked at his friend with hopeful eyes and the latter made a waving movement with his hand which meant that the former could go ahead. Green and Jynx moved to the side while Red and Alex took their places on the opposite sides of the battlefield.

"Let's do it, Nidorino!" Red shouted as his Pokemon jumped forward, making a more aggressive expression.

"Which one should I go with?" Alex pondered while holding three pokeballs in hands before settling for one of them "This one should be fine. Go, Vaporeon!"

Red looked in awe as an unrecognizable Pokemon, resembling a combination of Eevee and a Gyarados, appeared in front of him.

* * *

And so we started the second big arc of this story. I say big but I'm really not sure how long it will be. I have the two next chapters planned out but beyond that there's just a loose web of things that need to happen but don't have any particular order assigned to them yet. These couple chapters were also planned more point by point so the final product is 90% in line with the original idea while some other ones retain only like 30%. But this is probably the first chapter that I'm actually satisfied with. I was meticulous about describing the way Red was treated and tried to make it clear why Alex acted in specific ways while also keeping it hidden while he's actually a part of Team Rocket. I hope that you find his behavior and little quirks as charming as I do.

I'll probably talk more about Red and Green's new Pokemon once you get to know them better in the following chapter. Besides that, there's not much else to discuss. I didn't come up with Nets' personality, name and looks until writing the chapter but I'm not even sure how big of a role he'll play, although there are some vague ideas appearing in my mind.

The title of the chapter comes from an Elton John song.

Any reviews greatly appreciated. I don't need an ego boost. You can say how much you dislike it but if I get over a 1000 views and only 1 review during this month, I'm wondering why people don't want to write even one word. You know it doesn't cost anything, right?

Useless fact about me: I ordered Hanafuda cards on the internet since I got interested in them because of watching Summer Wars. I already know how to play Koi-Koi so I'm hoping to teach it to my friends.

Red. Team: Nidorino.

Stasis: Eevee, Charmeleon, Raichu, Gloom, Gyarados, Pidgeotto.

Badges: 4

Green. Team: Jynx.

Stasis: Venusaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, Horsea.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Bellsprout(Bell), Wartortle(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, Vaporeon, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.


	36. 30: Trial by Alex

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 30: Trial by Alex.

It was another normal day on the camping grounds east of Vermilion City. There was a lot less people there than at the beginning of fall. The person responsible for creating the building housing the various facilities put in even more money into the project in order to keep the interest in the place even during the colder months.

"You know... I started to doubt if anyone's ever going to beat the guardian." one person said to their friend while handing them hot chocolate they bought at the restaurant which was now one of several in the growing community of buildings.

"Well, anyone thinks that at some point but then comes a day when someone gets really close and your hopes rise again. Remember that guy that that made the guardian drop a part of the bridge onto itself?"

"Yeah, but... At this point like 90% of tickets go to regulars. I've seen Blue fight it today about 20 times and it doesn't seem like she's any closer to defeating it than she was when she first arrived here."

"You really shouldn't say that."

"Wait. Is she behind me?" they turned around, a little afraid, but it turned out that there was no one there.

"It's not that. I just think we should keep on believing in them. How much money did we already waste by staying here? The only chance we have of feeling better about this is if someone finally defeats it."

"I guess. But how long unt..." they almost bit their tongue mid-sentence when someone accidentally bumped into them while running somewhere "Hey! What gives?!"

"It's Blue! My friend called me and said that it looks like it could be it!" the person yelled without stopping.

The other two looked at themselves and that was enough to confirm that they decided the same thing. They put away their drinks before also starting to run towards the bridge.

. . .

"Look at that! This may finally be it." said one of the people responsible for taking care of Snorlax, while observing the battle between it and Blue's Pokemon.

"That's what that boy said." commented the nurse that Red talked to the day he faced the guardian "But each time she seems to be getting close to doing it, it looks like something's holding her back from finishing it."

"Is that so?" asked the other person "I've never had a Pokemon battle so I guess everything seems impressive to me. But hasn't she already defeated a lot of other people here who decided to challenge her because of her popularity?"

"Yes, but... It doesn't look like her experience as a Pokemon trainer is the thing preventing her from winning. It's something more... But what do I care? We've got a lot of new, strong trainers in the last couple months and we even got these new facilities so I couldn't be happier about how things are going."

"But wouldn't seeing the guardian being beaten bring in even more people? They would think like "If this girl could defeat it then so can I"."

"Or it could have the exact opposite effect. Something along the lines "It was defeated by someone already? Then there's no point in fighting it anymore"."

The other person couldn't find a good response so both of them kept quiet while continuing to watch the battle.

"Use Vine Whip to dodge!" Blue shouted to her Weepinbell who did accordingly, which allowed him to slip past the Hyper Beam shot out by their opponent.

The girl waited for the guardian's reaction while going over the things that didn't work out the last time they fought. Since Sleep Powder didn't seem too effective, she decided to replace it with another move that would work in a combination with what they already had.

"Use Wrap!"

Bell jumped out while shooting his vines towards Snorlax's arm, pulling himself closer before attaching himself to it.

"Now move to its back so that it can't reach you!"

Snorlax tried to grab its foe but the task seemed impossible.

"Now it's time for Poison Powder!" the girl shouted confidently.

The Grass Pokemon released a rain of purple flakes which covered the massive opponent who immediately felt the burden of being poisoned.

"Now are you rea... Wait... It could..." Blue seemed to realize what would be Snorlax's next move even before the Pokemon did itself but she stopped herself from giving her partner a command that would help him avoid what was about to come.

Snorlax arrived at an idea that, although not a normal way to fight, fit in the situation it found itself in. It just needed to fall backwards and crush its opponent with the weight of its body. That wouldn't provide a definitive victory but would rather lead to an endurance test in which they would see if it was more resistant to poison than Bell was to its weight. Right as the Grass Pokemon was about to be squished, the girl reached out with a pokeball, making him return to her. The guardian seemed confused for a second after falling down but it soon understood what happened and immediately stood up in order to allow the nurses to help it out with its affliction.

"Seems like I lost again." the girl said after noticing the disappointed looks of the people around her.

"Maaan, I thought this would be the one" she heard someone say as people walked away with lost interest.

She glanced at all the tickets she had and saw that she still had 5 chances to defeat Snorlax before someone's else turn but she decided to take a rest and handed them over to the closest person. A girl who hanged around her ever since her arrival was among the crowd and, as soon as Blue started living, approached her.

"Hey. What's going on? Are you not feeling well?"

"Oh. It's you, Maiia. No, I'm alright. It's something else." she responded without stopping to have a longer chat but the other one insisted on following her.

"That's the thing though. Although we've known each other for around 3 months, I still can't decipher what you're thinking most of the time. It's not that I want to pry into your business. I guess I just want to see you smile more."

Blue was surprised by these last words but they were definitely food for thought since she came up with a response not too short after hearing them "There was a time when I wouldn't care. I could forget about my worries and just have fun with a friend. I couldn't control how my feelings changed and even though I eventually managed to come to terms with them, especially after our talk..."

"I'm not sure I follow."

"I understood that Red didn't love me and I accepted that if he still won't after we meet again, I will give up and try to be just his friend again. I didn't intend on staying in this place for so long but... I've been thinking about all the merchandise with my face on it that I allowed them to sell in the gift shop. If there was a way for me to become like a brand... There wouldn't be a need for me to continue my Pokemon journey. Winning the Pokemon League is such an unsure thing, but this... this could work. I could help my parents. I could help all of the Sevii Islands."

"Does that mean... you're not happy?"

"I want to continue my journey. I want to meet him again. But it shouldn't be about what I wan..." she stopped before she could finish as she felt a powerful slap hit her face.

"It should be about you!" Maiia yelled, attracting even more glances than what she did right before that "You shouldn't do something if you don't like it! Of course your parents are important to you but do you think they would support what you're doing if they saw how miserable you were? If your time here was so hard on you then that probably means you don't even consider any of us your friends and that I have no right to tell you what to do but... I do consider you my friend and just how you are worried about your parents, I'm worried for you!"

"You don't think that I've already went over all of this a thousand times in my head? A slap to the face and some words of encouragement won't be enough to..."

Maiia slapped her again, looking more angry by the second "Then I'll slap you again! And again, and again, until you come to your senses! I understand now that we're nobodies to you but if you can't think about yourself, take a moment to think about all the people here! They've been waiting all this time, putting their trust in you, hoping that you would defeat the guardian, but you've just used them to earn money! How can someone so considerate act like that?!"

"Hey! Is that true?!" someone yelled.

"Yeah! What the hell, man?" another voice joined.

Blue looked around and saw that the eyes of what seemed like 60 or 70 people were on her, waiting for her answer.

"It's not... I truly wanted to defeat the guardian when I first arrived here..."

"Is that so? And when did that stop? When did you decide to sell yourself out?"

Blue looked at Maiia, almost ready to cry from all the pressure being put on her.

"You destroyed what I've been working towards."

"You may be angry at me now but this way you'll be able to return to the happy times you've spoken so fondly of. All these people heard what we've talked about but you still have a chance to save your face." the girl lowered her voice so that no one else could hear them "I'm sure you have a tactic that's sure to give you a victory against the guardian. Defeat him and everyone will shut up. Instead of a fraud, they'll remember you as the legend who was able to do the impossible. After that, you can stay and see if that will increase the sales of your merch or for once try to do something for yourself, leave and be happy. Remember that I did this because I care about you. You also should."

Blue kept quiet, trying to piece together everything that just happened but her mind was a mess and she needed some time to calm down and think it over. She pushed Maiia aside and continued walking towards the buildings in order to get to her room. Although some people in the crowd gave her dirty looks, most of them decided that it would be in their best interest to get out of her way for the time being.

"What was that all about?" someone asked Maiia, but she also needed time to cool down.

She couldn't fully control what was coming out of her mouth so she was worried if she wasn't too harsh or didn't say too much. There was also a thought in her head that maybe what she did was a malicious reaction to the fact that Blue didn't consider her a friend.

. . .

"Vaporeon." Red repeated the Pokemon's name while staring at it with his jaw hanging low.

He remembered checking his Pokedex to learn about the evolutions of Eevee so the image of this water dog was still in his mind. This caused him to think of his oldest partner and his instinctive reaction was to walk over and touch Vaporeon but it jumped back and lowered the front of its body as if it was getting ready to leap at him as a response to his sudden movement.

"You shouldn't do that. She's trained in such a way that she won't allow anyone besides me to approach her." said Alex.

Red looked at the man, and then at the cautiously observing him Pokemon, before walking back to his side of the room with a dejected look on his face. Nidorino looked at him with a puzzled expression but the boy just signaled with his open hand that everything was fine and the Pokemon turned back towards his opponent.

"I'll allow you to make the first move!" Alex announced while posing with one leg lifted in such a way as to create the shape of a bow with the other one, one of his hands placed on his forehead, and leaning back so much that it looked like he was about to fall down.

"That's nice and all but what does he expect me to do?" the teenager asked himself.

Green, who already went to the observation area after putting Jynx back in her pokeball, already saw through the Admin's plan. He planned to crush them at the very beginning in order to establish his dominance. Without knowing their new Pokemon and their moves, there were slim chances of victory. The fact that he wanted to repeat every day meant that he wanted them to get frustrated and have the idea of beating him be the thing occupying their minds as they would spend their free time training in order to get a chance to win. If at any point they would get close enough to actually defeating his Pokemon, he would make it seem like he lost on purpose and give them praise that would make them feel like it was an important accomplishment. All these thing were mind games meant to make them forget their previous lives and focus on being Team Rocket members. At least that was what Green suspected after getting to know the Admin and analyzing him each time they met.

"Does he really think that we will fall for that? After what he..." Green stopped himself since he remembered that he didn't have a chance to have a conversation with Red and the fact that he seemed so enthusiastic began to worry him "...Don't tell me I'm the only one..."

Back in the main part of the room, the battle has already started with Red ordering Nidorino to charge at the opponent. Even if he didn't know what this particular Pokemon was capable of, he knew his species enough to wager some guesses. What was however more important to him was getting to learn Vaporeon's move set. Even though he had no intention of losing the battle, he wanted to know every trick the other pair had up their sleeves in the case that they would lose, make it easier to prepare for a rematch.

"Just dodge it, Vaporeon."

The dog was easily able to avoid being hit by swiftly moving to the side while keeping her eyes on her Poison Pokemon.

"You've met my Ditto who is kind of a jack of all trades. Vaporeon and the other two each have a different thing I trained them to specialize in. You would think that hers is speed but she's actually the slowest of the bunch. That's why we have to make up for it with this:..." Alex said while proudly looking at his Pokemon "Quick Attack!"

"Use your horn!" was all Red could do since he still wasn't able to get into the groove of things.

Vaporeon's reaction were fast enough to get past Nidorino, spin around and attack him from the back before he had a chance to understand what was going on. Red looked a little worried but a smile suddenly appeared on his face. Although he didn't know Nidorino's move set, he knew of the ability Poison Point and was ready for it to kick in any moment. If Vaporeon would be poisoned, it would be slowed down at least enough to allow them to come up with something instead of just falling into their opponents' pace. To his surprise, even after a couple seconds passed, nothing happened and the dog was ready to hit Nidorino. again.

"How is that possible?! Why didn't Poison Point work?!"

Alex looked at him with a confused face but after understanding what was going through the boy's mind, he had to stop himself from laughing.

"Oh, man. You mean to tell me that you've come this far without knowing that each Pokemon species can have more than one ability?"

That information hit Red like a train. He never considered it before but it could be possible that he was too over reliant of his Pokedex which he often used in order to gain the understanding about the possibilities of his opponent's Pokemon. If he had it with him, he would be able to know what types of commands he should give to Nidorino. But he didn't want to believe that he was helpless without it. He focused as hard as he could on his next move but his mind kept wandering and for some reason his eyes moved in the direction of the window behind which stood Green.

"Of course." he uttered, hope returning to his eyes "This may not work how I hope but there's no point if thinking about it. Let's just try."

Even without receiving any orders, it seemed like Nidorino was conditioned enough by the people who bred him that he was able to stay his ground and avoid taking in critical hits from Vaporeon's continuous Quick Attacks.

"Use Double Kick!" Red ordered, surprising everyone present.

Since Vaporeon was constantly trying to deal damage to the horned Pokemon, it was hard to avoid being hit when she was already running at him. Alex seemed to know it would be pointless to warn her as his Pokemon herself decided to try and reduce the damage, allowing herself to be hit in the body instead of the head.

Meanwhile, Green smiled to himself after instantly understanding what that look Red gave him meant. He must have remembered that time he saw his rival's Nidorina during their time on St. Anne and assumed that since the species are related, he could take a chance and try one of the moves Green's Pokemon used at that time.

"So you decided to finally attack? Or maybe that was your plan all along? You hoped to fool me?" Alex said, feeling more excited, by the fact that he didn't expect this turn of events, than he would like to admit "But we've only just begun! You still haven't witnessed my darling's specialty!"

"Maybe I don't want to!" Red retorted before giving his next command "Poison Sting!"

Nidorino opened his mouth, releasing a barrage of purple needles which would have hit Vaporeon, had she not swiftly jumped to avoid them.

"We've got her now! Don't let up!"

Vaporeon was too far from the walls and the floor after jumping which meant that she was an easy target for the next Poison Sting.

"Water Pulse!"

The dog released a wave of blue energy which knocked back the needles and allowed her to land, ready for her trainer's next order.

"Damn it. I've got nothing else." Red said to himself while stressing over the fact that he may have forgotten something that could be useful to him in this situation.

Nidorino growled at him. It was hard to tell if the Pokemon was angry at his trainer or if that was how he normally behaved but it seemed like he wanted to suggest something by tilting his head up, showing off his horn.

"An attack with your horn? A horn... attack. Horn Attack. Yes. There's something like that, isn't there?" the boy's expression immediately changed to an excited one after understanding what his new partner was trying to get across "Let's do that! Horn Attack!"

Nidorino let out a sigh of relief, after seeing that the boy took the hint, and proceeded to run at his opponent, his horn starting to shine with a bright a light and seemingly growing in size, starting to resemble a lance.

"He's shown us a lot already. I hope doesn't actually hope to have a chance at winning here." Alex commented while considering his response to the incoming attack "I couldn't possibly bring myself to destroying his hopes, could I? But then again, I don't want him to live in delusion any more than he already has. But!,,, That doesn't mean I can't have fun while destroying them."

Vaporeon waited for Nidorino to strike with a wall right behind her, hoping that his horn would get stuck in it after she would side-step his attack but his trainer expected that sort of trick.

"Hit to the right!"

Although her speed made it possible not do be struck directly, she still was hit by the side of the horn which brought results similar to a baseball being hit by a bat, as the dog was sent flying through the room before hitting another wall. Nidorino was immediately ready to repeat this move and Red tilted his hand forward, signaling that he was allowing him to do that.

"That's enough. For a Poison type opponent, this move seems weirdly suited. Use Acid Armor!"

Right as she was about to be hit by the enormous horn, Vaporeon's body seemed to disintegrate and below it was a new Vaporeon, made up completely of what looked like a slightly dark water. The horn pierced this liquid body, going into the belly of the Pokemon and doing seemingly no damage.

"What is this?!" Red couldn't believe his eyes.

Green was seemingly shocked. Although he heard of the move, he never encountered a Pokemon able to use it.

"Keep on trying!" Nidorino's trainer started getting desperate, although hoping that the attack not working was just a fluke.

The Poison Pokemon couldn't properly use Horn Attack at close range but he still tried to Vaporeon with his horn as fast and as many times as he could, effectively using Fury Attack instead.

"It may look like Vaporeon's invulnerable to my dear opponent but I really shouldn't be taking any chances if I want to look as good as I want to." Alex talked to himself again "Let's add Aqua Ring!"

"Watch out!" not knowing what was about to happen, Red warned his Pokemon who immediately jumped back to what he thought could be a safe distance, in order to try and see if he could counter the move.

Three rings of floating water appeared out of thin air, surrounding Vaporeon's body, constantly moving around. At first slow, they started to speed up. Adding to that the fact that the dog started moving forward, all the motion made it hard to understand what was part of her body and what wasn't. She started jumping from side to side, disorienting both Nidorino and his trainer, until finally jumping right in front of him and splashing on the floor, turning into a puddle. This was so confusing to the horned Pokemon that he didn't notice a trail of water moving away from the puddle in order to recreate the form of Vaporeon behind him.

"Behi..."

Red's reaction was too late. Vaporeon charged at Nidorino, losing her shape and dragging him along like a powerful wave before both crushed into the wall, the main difference being that she landed on the floor without receiving any damage. Nidorino tried to get up but she jumped at him, enveloping his head with her body, trying to take out his breathing. He was trying to stab her with his horn but it was a vain attempt.

"Water Pulse!" Alex gave an order, confident that it was what would finish the battle.

Instead of sending the wave of energy through the air, the dog created it in her body, making Nidorino feel as if his head was about to be squished. Red couldn't stand that sight and called the Pokemon back to his ball as quickly as he could. After seeing that the battle was over, Vaporeon's watery body started turning back to normal. Alex passed her, giving her a proud look, while on his way to Red.

"I hope that wasn't too much." he said, trying to hide the sarcasm in his voice.

"Nope." Red replied, seemingly not moved at all by how horribly he lost "If we train a little, I'm sure we'll be able to face you on even grounds."

"That's good to hear." Alex felt like he should be annoyed but the fact that there was someone besides the other Admins who genuinely believed they stood a chance against him, made him quite excited "I said before that I wanted us to fight every day but... that might be too much. Just let me know when you think you'll be able to give me a decent fight. Even if you don't win, if I'm satisfied with the experience, there will be a reward waiting for you. Now how about..."

"I'm ready." Green announced, already standing next to them.

"Great. Vaporeon isn't too tired but I want to be fair so you'll fight another one of my Pokemon. Hmm... Is there something I'm forgetting?" Alex grabbed his chin while trying to remember "Oh, right. Did you figure out what was Vaporeon's specialty?"

"Cheating." Red replied, showing that he wasn't happy about the way he lost.

"Trickery." Green gave his answer.

"It... It was defense. Seriously, guys?"

* * *

Who's a doody poopoo head? This guy. It's me. I'm useless. I don't post anything in over two weeks and then I arrive with this short chapter that's not even a full story. I'm not even sure what's my excuse. There's just a lot of days when I don't feel like writing. I wanted to condition myself to write at least a bit each day but nothing came out of it. Instead it works in a way where I don't write anything for like a week, then a write like 2000 words and then I take another week of break. It's not like I'm doing anything important. Taking aside my job, I should have around 7-8 hours of free time every day. I like writing and I want to continue this story so I can't tell what's holding me back. But I wanted to give you something sooner than later so that's why I decided to split this into two parts. I'll try to be quicker with the next one but any promises on my part would be worthless.

Let's talk about the chapter itself. I'm slightly torn about the way I portrayed Blue. I mader her seem more assholeish than I originally intended but then I was weirdly happy with the fact that I made one of the main characters a "bad guy" in their own story. Of course, she has her circumstances. She talked about her dreams as far back as Chapter 6 and it's just her wondering what way she should go about them. I hope that you understood that she was still not sure about what she's done. We'll see next chapter what her final decision about this matter is going to be. Overall, with how Red-centered this story already is, I wanted to give Blue something more to be concerned about besides her feelings for him. I already gave hints about what's Green personal story is going to be like and you'll probably see more of that soon.

I think Vaporeon being able to turn into water and just destroy Nidorino without any effort is just really cool. It's the first battle in a long time where I did everything I had in plans. I'm already excited for the rematch.

I have a lot of fun writing Alex. Someone who comes off as one dimensional while actually being an emotionally complex person, changing his moods based on the slightest thing... I don't know. It's just a pleasant feeling. Like if I got shivers all over my head.

The title is based on the phrase "trial by fire" which makes no sense since, as you know, there were no Fire type Pokemon in this chapter.

Not related to the chapter, I finally bought myself a Switch. I didn't have time to play yet but I already have Breath of the Wild. I also got myself a case with Pikachu surrounded by like a blue energy and white lightning.

Red. Team: Nidorino.

Stasis: Eevee, Charmeleon, Raichu, Gloom, Gyarados, Pidgeotto.

Badges: 4

Green. Team: Jynx.

Stasis: Venusaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, Horsea.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Weepinbell(Bell), Wartortle(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, Vaporeon, ?, ?.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.


	37. 31: A Blue Lie

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 31: A Blue Lie.

"Go, Jynx." Green said while releasing his new Pokemon out of her ball.

After appearing, she did a few motions with her hands before clapping them hard, creating a slight breeze that reached even the opposite side of the room.

"I must confess that while I have big hopes for Red, I'm still not sure about you. I want you to be as good as he is... maybe even better. What I mean to say is that while I obviously have the advantage, I don't want to completely destroy you. I have one Pokemon that could finish this fight way too fast so I'm..."

"Shut up." Green interrupted him.

Alex was clearly surprised but he didn't want to lose his cool, especially with Red watching them from the viewing area. He hesitated a little while touching the pokeballs on his belt but he calmed himself and went with his original plan, even though the feeling of wanting to overpower Green was strong in him.

"Maybe winning with her will be even better. I can still do it... quickly." he thought to himself before rising the hand holding the pokeball and announcing out loud "I choose Jolteon!"

His Pokemon closely resembled Vaporeon, the main difference being that she was covered in yellow, spiky fur. Little sparks of electricity traveled through the surface of her body as she roared at Jynx, seemingly trying to intimidate her before the battle could even begin.

"Now that's the spi..."

"Powder Snow!"

Jynx was about less than a second late to realize that her trainer didn't want to give the Admin a chance to speak but she listened and blew on top of her open palms, creating a gust of wind carrying white particles toward the opponent. That short delay was enough to allow Jolteon to side-step the attack.

"Ice Punch!"

Although this time Jynx was prepared for the order, she didn't immediately understand that she was supposed to hit the ground and wondered for a moment how to reach Jolteon who was far from her. Her punching the floor caused a trail of ice form and move towards the opponent who unfortunately was wise enough to avoid it, even though she seemed confused as to why her trainer wasn't as fast at giving her commands.

"That guy is really unpleasant." Alex commented "Well... That's probably my fault. I already have a plan for putting him in his place. Thunder Wave!"

Jolteon used the energy in its body to create a curtain of electricity which reached Jynx in a flash, flying past her body before disappearing in a shower of sparkles. It didn't cause any damage but when the Ice Pokemon tried to check if everything was alright with her, she felt her limbs stiffen for a short while before moving again. She gave her trainer a worried look but he seemed to be more focused on Alex than on his new buddy.

"If only I could defeat him right now... What else?" he thought to himself "The luck has been on my side. I managed to guess two of the moves that Jynx can use but they were the most obvious one. Surely, she should have something besides Ice type moves... Probably nothing too advanced..."

"If I give him time to think, there's a chance he could come up with something. But he hasn't been too kind for me so I see no reason to." Alex said to himself before giving an order to Jolteon "Pin Missile!"

The dog made her fur stick out even more before shooting out parts of it, in the form of big and ridiculously fast needles which immediately reached their target. Even though Jynx tried to protect herself by putting her hands forward, hoping to freeze the incoming projectiles, she was still hit in the shoulders, legs and one of her cheeks.

Without giving Green a second of rest, the Team Rocket member was ready with another move "Approach her with Agility!"

"Try Double Slap!" the teenager shouted the first thing that came to his mind, realizing that overthinking could be detrimental to them.

Jynx swung her arms around, hoping to hit Jolteon, whose speed rose sharply a second before that, but she wasn't actually able to harness the power of the move chosen by her trainer, making her vulnerable to a simple physical attack performed by her foe.

"That's not it." Green whispered while gritting his teeth, slowly losing his cool demeanor "Use Pound! Or Lick!"

The long-haired Pokemon kept getting pushed around by Jolteon's attacks, unable to satisfy her partner's demands.

"Wait... I've been going about this the wrong way. I shouldn't just choose any moves. Team Rocket wouldn't teach their Pokemon moves in a way that makes sense to a normal trainer. For regular grunts it's probably easier to just play into the Pokemon's strengths." Green analyzed his mistakes while keeping an eye to make sure that he hasn't lost yet.

"I guess that's enough for now." Alex said, seeing that it looked like his opponent still hadn't come up with anything that would at least allow him to put up a fight "Finish her with Thunder Fang!"

"Heart Stamp!" Green shouted finally, prompting his Pokemon to put one of her hands forward and shoot out a heart-shaped projectile at Jolteon who was about to jump at her.

The dog was pushed back but the attack didn't hurt her much and it looked like she planned to continue her attack but something stopped her at the moment she was about to take the first step towards her foe.

"She flinched! Quickly, use Powder Snow!"

"You underestimate us. Even if she can't move, there's still ways to deal with this!"

The gust of wind carrying the pieces of snow was obliterated by a shield of electricity formed by using Thunder Wave. After that, Jolteon tried out if she could move again and it turned out that she was fine already.

"He's already learning how to fight together with his new Pokemon but I'm also learning what to look out so the advantage is still mine." Alex observed "Agility and Thunder Fang!"

"That should be enough for now." Green thought to himself before putting up his right hand and announcing "We give up."

Jolteon stopped mid-run while Jynx, who already put up her hands in order to protect herself, turned around with a confused face. Alex seemed similarly shocked by the boy's words. The only one who wasn't surprised by it was Red. Right after Green made his decision, his friend started walking down the stairs towards the battlefield.

"Wait, wait, wait. You can't do that." the Admin said while waving his hands, having not taken enough time to form a proper thought, instead uttering the first thing that came to him.

"I don't remember there being a rule about not giving up. Besides, you allowed Red to back out without defeating his Pokemon." Green said while approaching him and returning Jynx to her pokeball.

"You know that is not the same thing. He was about to lose but you still could fight on. Make it interesting."

"I'm not the same as Red. I'm not hot-blooded like him. I also don't plan on indulging you more than necessary..." he stopped himself, even though it looked like he wanted to say more.

"I guess your names really do fit you. But if I had to describe you I would say that he's like a bowl of spicy curry while you... you're like a single mint candy. To be honest, I didn't have any expectations even if I knew you were "his" grandson."

Red, who just arrived next to them, noticed that Green's hands were twitching ever so slightly.

"Green... Oak. Hmm." Alex said while looking as if he was pondering something very hard, although at the same time a slight smile appeared on his face.

The teenager who usually remained completely calm, allowed his emotions to take over and, in less than a second, reached the Admin, ready to deliver a punch to his face. He stopped himself right before doing it, coming back to his senses. If he didn't, Jolteon was right behind him, ready to sink her fangs in his leg the moment he would do it.

"This relationship would go a lot better if you didn't make me want to kill you every time I see your face." Green stated while pulling his hand back.

Alex, who seemed to know that the boy wouldn't actually punch him as proved by his satisfied expression, replied in a sarcastic voice "It would go better if you weren't so stubborn."

He leaned over to Green so that Red couldn't hear what he was about to say "If you were like any normal grunt, I would knock out a couple of your teeth right now. But you know that I can do much worse things. Don't forget that and never pull another stunt like that. I may seem like I'm enjoying teasing you but I really just want you to become an obedient pet. You annoyed the worst person here. Someone like Alex would probably already have you dead... I'm going to enjoy breaking you and soon you'll also start to enjoy it."

He patted him on the shoulder before calling Jolteon back to her pokeball and starting to walk towards the doors. He smiled at Red while they passed each other. The teenager looked at him with a confused expression. He hoped to learn what was going on from Green.

"Were you going to punch him? What happened?"

"I... I guess I just got frustrated... a little." the other teenager responded while hoping that the fake concern he was trying to show with his face would prevent his friend from seeing how angry he actually was.

"We just need to train for a couple days and we should be good. We don't have our Pokedexes but I'll ask Nets to help me with learning more about Nidorino."

Red's optimism slightly cheered up his rival.

. . .

"Are you alright?" one of the restaurant staff asked Blue who was sitting in a corner, holding a hand up to her forehead.

"Yeah. It's just... overwhelming." she answered while trying to smile in order to show that there was no reason for that person to worry about her because she genuinely felt like she didn't deserve it.

"I'm not sure. You look like you're about to pass out. Are you sure you didn't catch a cold?"

"No. I'm fine. Just leave me alone."

The person looked a little embarrassed, probably wondering about whether they were too nosy but Blue was so occupied with her current problem that she didn't pay any attention to others, even though her not being able to connect with people was part of what she was thinking about. The news about her faking her fights in order to gather money were probably spreading to everyone in the camping grounds but what bothered her was that she didn't feel remorse. She wasn't sad for herself or for the other people. She was just mad that her moments of weakness were about to destroy everything she worked for. Was there even a point in trying to save face by winning against the guardian if everyone already knew that she was a fraud? The only thing that made her consider this was that she would probably need to try and start collecting badges again and she didn't know if going back through Vermilion and Cerulean wouldn't take her too much time.

"I should probably..."

"Hey, you b#$!" someone shouted while quickly moving towards her before slamming both their fist on the table she was sitting at, causing her drink to spill and the glass to roll off and smash on the floor.

It was a young man with short, blonde hair, wearing typical winter clothing. His actions attracted some attention. It seemed like a bunch of people were worried about what was going on but many looked like they were unsure of what to do, probably having already learned the truth about Blue.

"I guess that you're mad at me?" she asked, not really showing interest in what he had to say, although being observant in case he tried to communicate with her in a more physical way.

"No! I mean... Yes! But I'm also mad at myself!"

Although she couldn't understand what he meant by that, the words were enough to pique her curiosity "What do you mean?"

"Of course I'm angry that you used your fans here just to make money but there's all sort of other things to be angry about. I'm angry that I ever considered that it was impossible to defeat the guardian, even though I saw many times how close you were to doing that. It's not like we didn't have fun watching you fight... There were probably many battles where you actually lost and didn't just throw them so it's not like there weren't good experiences. Even the fake ones looked great since you still put effort to look like you were a hair away from winning. I can appreciate the effort you put in that, but... I still fill terrible... Even if you had something that you considered a good reason for doing that... Well, it's over... I..."

"You should take responsibility." said another person.

"Yes! That's right! I don't know if it's going to be what people hoped for or if it's going to change how we feel about you after learning the truth but it's at least better than you just sitting here and crying about this blowing up in your face!" added the blonde man.

"Do I look like I'm crying?" the girl asked with an annoyed voice.

"You... You are crying." someone said after a short while of silence.

She touched one her cheeks and found out that they were telling the truth. The fact that she didn't feel it before worried her almost as much as not knowing what was the reason for her tears. Was it her parents? Was it Red? Or maybe she actually started to care what these people wanted after hearing this man speak about his feelings? The only possibility that didn't cross her mind was that she could be crying for herself.

"Shut up already." she said while wiping away the tears "I'm going to do it."

Everyone fell silent again but after realizing what her words meant, they started to get louder and louder until finally most of them were cheering, happy that the day they waited for has finally come.

. . .

Blue walked through the crowd of people. The news that she decided to actually try and defeat Snorlax must have spread as fast as the ones about her faking it until then since everyone moved to the sides, making an almost empty path leading towards the guardian. She already packed all her things and was ready to leave as soon as the battle was over, even though she wasn't sure where she would go. The people responsible for taking care of Snorlax didn't even ask her for a ticket since everyone agreed that it was the last chance they were going to give her. The Pokemon itself also acted different than normally. Usually it was pretty calm, waiting for its opponents to get close before beginning the battle, but this time it started walking at the girl before stopping about a meter away from her. It looked down and shook its head disapprovingly.

"I..." for the first time, she actually felt ashamed of what she's done.

The blow she dealt to Snorlax's pride must have been bigger than any damage her actions caused to the others. She couldn't look it in the eyes without her conscience acting up so she lowered her gaze but suddenly she felt its palm on her head, patting her gently. It smiled at her and gave out some noise before returning to its regular spot. She understood that it wanted to say something along the lines of "It's going to be okay" but she didn't get the feeling like anything was actually different from any of their previous encounters. The guardian wanted to fight her just like he always did. She never considered that it, just like Maiia, could have developed friendly feelings towards her since at first she saw it as an obstacle and later on as a tool she could use to further her agenda.

"It's not like everything's going to magically be fine just because of me fighting seriously. But I really feel like I owe it to it." she thought to herself as she got into position and put her bag on the ground.

She already decided which of her Pokemon she would use. When she reached towards the pokeball, something cold touched her nose. She looked up. It was beginning to snow.

"Huh. I guess some people would consider this as some sort of sign..." she commented before throwing the pokeball "Go, Tori!"

The Water Pokemon spun around while hidden in his shell before jumping up and landing near his opponent.

"I wonder if they want me to put on a show? Is going all in from the start going to disappoint them if I win too easily? No, no. I have to abandon this type of mindset. The only thing I need to is win and I know I can do that."

While the girl was battling her thoughts, Snorlax already went on the offensive by slamming both its fist on the ground, causing the move Earthquake to come into effect, making Wartortle jump up and spin around until landing back on the ground, too dizzy to get up.

"Oh no. If I look bad even for a second, they may start to think that I'm pretending to lose... But... Why do I care?"

Snorlax continued by using Power-Up Punch to scoop Wartortle off the ground and send him flying high above.

"Focus, Blue. Focus." she said to herself while slapping both her cheeks before looking up at Tori who tried to position himself for a good landing "Use Rapid Spin to circle around it!"

He did as ordered, although it was hard to start rotating, and moved through the air, making his way past Snorlax before coming out of the shell.

"Water Gun!"

The cold air made it sting much more when the attack hit Snorlax in the back of its head. It grabbed the spot instinctively before turning around and making a charge at Wartortle who still hasn't reached the ground. It looked like it was about to deliver another strong punch but the Water Pokemon's trainer finally was in a state of mind where she could make quick decisions.

"Use it again to dodge!"

Wartortle moved out of the way right as he was about to receive the blow but Snorlax didn't intend to give up, letting the weight of his punch carry him into a spin that positioned it in such a way that the next move would be sure to reach the target. It formed a ball of electricity in one of its hands and threw it at Tori who was unable to avoid it, falling to the ground after taking damage.

"Did... Did the guardian ever use Electric moves? That was a Thunderbolt, right?" said someone in the crowd of spectators which was more dense than ever before.

"I don't think so." someone else replied.

"I've never seen it use any Special moves. Just Physical ones." added another person.

More and more people started discussing this surprising turn of events until one by one they started coming to the same conclusion "Wait... Does that mean that the guardian also never fought seriously?"

Having realized what was happening sooner than the others, Blue was still confused by why Snorlax would hide his true abilities. Was that pat on the head she received from it a sign that it understood what she was going through? Was revealing its power a way for Blue to not look as bad in other people's eyes?

"No. That doesn't make any sense. I've never treated it like a friend. Why would it do something for me?"

"You don't have to act friendly towards someone for them to do the same for you." the words came from Maiia who stood next to Blue after approaching her from the back "Even if someone is a total asshole, there still may be something that makes you like them. I, for example, never expected anything back for being your friend. I just came to like you and wanted to see you happy. I guess I messed that one up."

"How can I try to understand others' feelings when I'm confused about my own?"

"You're overthinking it. Just be yourself and see if they like it. If they don't, then there's no point in forcing yourself, yeah?"

"How is that going to help me in this situation?" she asked while pointing at the battlefield where Wartortle was running around in order to avoid a bunch of other Thunderbolts Snorlax was sending its way.

"The guardian is doing exactly what I told you to do. It must have seen how conflicted you were so it's showing you its true self in order to become your friend. Now it's up to you whether you accept these feelings or not."

"But... I don't feel like I deserve it. I know what I did was wrong and yet I don't feel any regret. Does someone like that deserve a chance to be happy?"

"Sure you do. You've already taken the first step by deciding to fight seriously. I don't want to tell you what to do since I never saw you as someone who needed help in knowing what they want but if you want my advice, I'm here for you." she stopped for a second to think of something "You know how there's different types of lies depending on who benefits and who loses from them? What you did was a black lie but I don't think that there's classification for a lie that stopped being a lie."

"A blue lie? That's what you wanted me to say."

"Yeah. Has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

"I..."

They were forced to stop talking when Wartortle was sent flying through the small space between their bodies.

"I will finish this fight... and let people decide how they feel about me... But I'll be leaving this place no matter what." she said before running towards her Pokemon to check out if he was okay "I have an idea, Tori. There's already a bit of snow lying around. We can use that to our advantage. Use Water Pulse very low!"

The Water Pokemon did as ordered not knowing that Blue's plan was for the energy of his attack to cause the snow to rise rapidly, obscuring Snorlax's view.

"Rapid Spin!" she shouted and Wartortle acted accordingly, delivering a blow to Snorlax's head before bouncing away and receiving the next command "And now Skull Bash!"

Tori spun around some more before he was positioned in a way that would allow him to attack Snorlax from the front. He focused energy in his head as he pulled it backward before delivering a headbutt so strong that it caused his enormous opponent to take a step back while trying to push Wartortle away. The guardian managed to somehow move out of the way, causing its foe to fly past him and land on the ground after doing a quick flip. Although it was visibly in pain, Snorlax decided to use Earthquake before jumping away from Wartortle in order to prepare its next move. Even though it was harder to use that attack in such weather, Blue realized that it was preparing to fire a Solar Beam.

"Get up, Tori!"

The turtle was already in much pain but it started to slowly rise from the ground. Snorlax finished charging its attack and shot a beam of green energy at his foe.

Seeing that, Blue yelled "Water Gun!"

The two attacks collided but it wasn't even a contest. Solar Beam was slowly pushing Wartortle back. Its already slippery body made it easier not to trip up on the snow but that wasn't much consolation.

"I can't lose." Blue said, overtaken with passion that she hasn't felt before.

"Wait! Where are you going?!" Maiia could only yell at her friend since she was too scared to follow her as she ran to her Pokemon who was still struggling.

Blue put her back against her Pokemon's in order to stop him from being pushed away, allowing for a more steady release of the water. Noticing the unusual effort put in by his trainer, Wartortle got to a whole new level of motivation and pushed as hard as he could, momentarily causing Solar Beam to get overpowered but the guardian also kept on trying harder and harder. It was looking like despite Blue's help, there was no chance of victory when suddenly something started to change.

The girl felt the Pokemon grow several times his size and his shell become harder than it ever was. She tilted her head and saw that he was so big that she couldn't even get a glimpse of his head while on the ground. He wasn't being pushed back any longer so she assumed it to be safe to stand up, even though the effort she just put in left her a little tired. She walked around and saw Tori, now a Blastoise, in his full glory. Instead of using only the mouth, he tripled the strength of his Water Gun by also shooting it out of the cannons on his back. Snorlax was as surprised as the girl but it didn't intend on giving up, using as much power as it could.

Blue saw this as a chance, reminded that a power struggle wasn't her usual style of fighting "Rapid Spin out of the way!"

There was only a fraction of a second for Blastoise to move away after stopping using Water Gun, in order for it not to be hit by Solar Beam. This sudden move was enough of a surprise that when its attack exploded after hitting the ground, Snorlax wasn't immediately able to follow its opponent's movements.

"Skull Bash!"

This time the turtle positioned himself behind the guardian and was able to land a much more powerful headbutt than the one before, causing Snorlax to fall down before he himself landed on his back.

"Finish it with Water Pulse!"

This was another move that became more dangerous thanks to the evolution. Blastoise put his cannons against Snorlax's skin and the pulsating energy felt like a barrage of powerful punches to the guardian. After some time, Blue put up her hand and signaled her Pokemon that it was okay to stop.

One of the nurses ran up to them and checked various things about Snorlax before taking a megaphone she had someone deliver to her and speaking through it, and in doing so through various speakers set up around the camping field "This just in! The guardian has been officially defeated in battle by Blue and her Blastoise! I repeat, the guardian has lost... For the first time in history!"

* * *

I'm terrible a this stuff. I hoped to complete both the stories in this chapter but it looks like I'm gonna need to put the epilogue to Blue's story at the beginning of the next chapter and the rest of it will be about rematches against Alex and some other things.

I did pretty much all I wanted with this story. I tried to lessen Blue's burden by having Snorlax show that it wasn't fighting seriously until this point and by having her show how much effort she could put in when she needed to. I also used other characters like Maiia and that random guy to point her in a specific direction without forcing her to do something. As of this chapter, she's still not sure about almost anything but her connection to Snorlax was a big step. The next one are probably relations with humans but you'll have to wait some time for that. It's kinda weird how she's the most developed of the main characters even though she has a lot less appearances than Red. But then again, Red is a fairly simple guy while he's not actively trying to come up with something.

On the other hand we have Green who's also getting his development. I really hope that I don't make some of the hints too obvious or the reveals I have planned won't be exciting to read. But if you correctly guess what's coming, that just means that you're as good(or better) reader than I am a writer.

I have some bad news. Well, not necessarily bad. I was very annoyed for a couple minutes but after calming down I realized that what happened wasn't so bad. The file where I keep my plans for future chapters somehow got corrupted and deleted around half of the stuff I had in it. I tried to recover it but wasn't able. I have the plans for all but like 3-4 last chapters of Kanto but I lost all the plans for the Johto part. I have about 16 of the Johto chapters plans somewhere on paper but when/if the times comes to write the rest, I will have to go from memory so instead of my usual tweaking of plans, it may be me completely building stories from the ground up. Which isn't necessarily a bad things. I just don't feel like writing them down again and I wonder how much I'll still remember when I reach that point(which at this speed definitely won't be this year). Let's just hope that it's one of Bob Ross's "happy little accidents" and the story actually turns out better than it would originally have.

If you want to help me deal with this loss, leave a review. Or don't.

Red. Team: Nidorino.

Stasis: Eevee, Charmeleon, Raichu, Gloom, Gyarados, Pidgeotto.

Badges: 4

Green. Team: Jynx.

Stasis: Venusaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, Horsea.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Weepinbell(Bell), Blastoise(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, Vaporeon, Jolteon, ?.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.


	38. 32: On a High Note

Recommended Music: Victory Gundam Opening 1.

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 32: On a High Note.

"So we managed to win..." Blue said to Blastoise while observing her hand which was still shivering from excitement "...I really thought that the Solar Beam would be the end for us. But... what now?"

All the people in the crowd, who until that point were either cheering on or discussing the battle, fell silent as soon as the girl's victory was announced. Those couple seconds during which she waited for their reaction were a lot more scary than running in to help her Pokemon.

"You did it!" Maiia was the first person to approach her, hugging her friend tightly and lifting her off the ground in order to try and spin, instead causing both of them to fall in the snow.

Her happiness was enough to break something in Blue. She allowed herself to forget reason for some time and both of them just lied there for some time, laughing as loud as they could. They stopped however when a bunch of shadows, from other people slowly surrounding them, covered their view. Blue reminded herself of her situation and stood up as fast as she could. One of them was the same man who urged her to win when he found her in the restaurant.

"I'm still not okay with you lying to us but... that battle was more than I ever hoped for. I don't know about others but... I'm grateful." he stated before bowing, mostly in order to hide that he was getting teary-eyed.

"That was great!" someone else said while patting her on the back.

There were a bunch of other people congratulating her and she began to worry that she would have to hear out each of them one by one when suddenly she heard a rising chant. With each second more people were joining in repeatedly shouting her name.

"Blue! Blue! Blue!"

"I don't really know what to do." she said to Maiia who looked as clueless as her about what she should do.

When the chanting stopped, people looked like they were expecting something more from her. At least Tori seemed to enjoy the situation since the nurse team decided to heal him up and he was now receiving pats from people who wanted to give him separate praise for what he accomplished. The main nurse went up to Blue, struggling to get through the crowd, and handed her the megaphone, probably thinking that a speech from her would help tie everything up.

"Um... Hello everyone." she started.

"Yeeeah! Blueee!" one person stood out from the otherwise silently watching crowd, although they quieted down after the others gave him angry looks.

"Do... Do you have any questions? I'm not sure what I should talk about." it was hard to hide how nervous she was after the initial rush of happiness after her victory disappeared.

The people remained silent.

"You're probably expecting an explanation or... or maybe you want me to ask for your forgiveness? But would that be enough to repay how much you've lost? Hmmm... None of that really matters to me. You may think I'm a despicable, cold hearted person for tricking you but none of you know how many of the battles were actually fake so there's no way for deduce how much I should repay you if that's what you want from me. I could try pulling at your heartstrings by saying how it all happened, how this idea of pretending to be weak came to me, and why would I do something like that... I mean, for money of course... but the real reason... I don't want you to know it. When I first arrived here, I wanted to distance myself from something... someone.., but me being one of the stronger... apparently the strongest trainer here... it lead to you putting me on some kind of pedestal at which point it was impossible for me to even think about being friends with any of you." with each word she was more sure of what she actually wanted and her expression changed from a confused one to a confident smile "And so I decided to walk away from here without caring what any of you nobodies has to say about it. Since I'm already this strong, there's no chance for any of you to stop me. If you want to complain about what I did, make sure to get strong and challenge me at the Pokemon League!"

After saying that, she jumped on Blastoise's back and pointed towards the bridge. The Pokemon turned around so that his cannons were facing the crowd and shot out two powerful blasts of water which allowed him to slide on the ground with incredible speed. Anyone who stood in their path immediately jumped to the side to save themselves. Even though she was so fast, there were still a couple people who thought they could catch up to her and defeat her if they fought as a group. They barely made a couple steps in the direction of the bridge when a living wall appeared in front of them.

"It's the guardian! Dammit! Let us pass!" one of them shouted.

"No way. You know the rules." stated the main nurse.

The people proceeded to back away, scared that after becoming friendly with Blue, Snorlax would be prepared to attack them even if they resigned from pursuing her. Maiia was the only person, besides the nurses, allowed to approach the bridge.

"I should get stronger. If I'm at least as strong as the guardian then maybe Blue and I will be able to actually become friends." she said while stretching her arms before turning towards the camping ground in order to start her training as soon as possible.

. . .

"You can't be serious. I know that you spent the last two days training all the time but you can't expect to defeat and Admin after such a short time." Nets, who was escorting Red to the same place he had his fight against Alex a couple days ago, was worried about the teenager whom he took a liking to in the short time they spent together.

"You said that you were impressed with the tactics we came up when you had to observe me during training." Red responded.

"Yeah. I was. But it's still not enough to win."

"But I don't need to win. I just have to meet Alex's standards, whatever they are."

"I've done some calculations based on what you told me about your previous fight and there's only 23% chance that you'll impress him." the red-headed boy said while adjusting his glasses as if they were proof of how intelligent he was.

"What does that even mean? How would you measure something like that?"

"It's quite easy, you see. I just..."

"See? I told you they'd show up." a voice interrupted them.

It was Green and his roommate who seemed to be waiting for them in front of the battle room. Red didn't take a good look at the other Team Rocket member when they first met but this time he noted that the person was a slightly chubby, dark-haired boy with small, almost completely closed eyes which made him look like he was judging everyone he looked at.

"Since Green is also here, I have double the reason to stay and have my fight. I don't want him to pass Alex's test ahead of me." Red said at Nets.

"Yeah, yeah. Alright." he gave up on trying to convince him and bowed to the other two "Good morning, Green and Otari."

"Hi." Green responded while his roommate seemed disinterested, greeting only by sticking up his index and middle finger.

After that, all of them went into the room where Alex was already waiting for them. He must have used the device for changing the battlefield since instead of having just plain earth, the middle of the room was covered with grass, with some bushes here and there and a small pond in the middle.

"You couldn't have planned this since I had you two separated so I guess the two of you challenging me on the same day just goes to show how well you know each other." the Admin commented after putting away a notepad in which he was writing something while sitting on a boulder on his side of the field.

"Or it could be a coincidence." Otari finally spoke up, although he immediately looked to the side when the Admin took note of his nonchalant tone.

"Yes... That's also possible." the man said before standing up and stretching a little as if he was the one who would be doing the fighting "I have no preference so... how do you want to do it? The same order as before? Switching it around?"

Red became excited at the thought of trying out the things he came up with and showed it by looking at his friend with hopeful eyes.

"Alright, alright. Go ahead."

Green started walking towards the stairs. Nets and Otari followed him after understanding that Red and Alex were about to begin their battle.

"The fact that you decided to challenge me for a rematch so fast is kind of... exciting. If you took your time, I would expect that you were building up the basics but... you're not a basic type of guy." the Admin commented while reaching for a pokeball on his belt "Go, Vaporeon!"

"I'm not sure if that's supposed to be a compliment but I guess I'll take it. Go, Nidorino!"

The two Pokemon stared each other down. The main difference was that the Poison one was only partially interest in the opponent and after a short while approached Red in order to get a pat on the head from the trainer. Vaporeon glanced in Alex's direction, possibly thinking about doing the same thing but decided against it.

"Are you prepared to take me fully?" Alex asked while standing with his hands reached out towards Red as if he was trying to catch invisible rain in the shape he made out of them.

"What?"

"What i mean is that this time I won't go easy to allow you to show off. And every battle from now on is going to be the same. Are you... prepared... for that?!" he shouted while pointing at the teenager.

"Oh. That's fine. You mean we can still battle even after I pass your test?"

"What? No! I mean that you're going to lose today and each time you're try..."

"Oh! No, no. We're going for the win this time." the boy interrupted him.

In the viewing area, Nets looked at Green with worry after noticing a creepy smile forming on his face, not knowing that it was a sign of the pleasure he got from watching Alex trying to keep up with Red in their exchange.

"Okay then." Alex thought it was a good idea to rebuild his slightly damaged ego by starting the battle as fast as possible "We'll show you..."

"Let's make Hustle." Red said, and although nothing implied it, these words seemed to be a command for Nidorino who immediately started running towards Vaporeon, although keeping behind the bushes which would make it harder for the foe to guess where he was.

"What? How did he get so fast? Did he focus on raising the Pokemon's stats instead of coming up with a strategy?" these were the thoughts that swarmed Alex's head before he gave an order to his partner "Vaporeon, Quick Attack! But to the other side!"

With the dog starting to run in the opposite direction from the oncoming opponent, it started to look as if they were taking part in a race on a circular race track.

"There was something weird about how he gave his command. Hustle, hustle... Damn it. I should focus on the battle instead of these trivial details. The fact that he wants Nidorino to get close, even after what happened the last time, means that he must be confident that he can land an attack without getting trapped. Or does it? Am I overthinking this?"

Although he couldn't read the man's mind, Nidorino seemed intent on answering his questions when he suddenly jumped over the pond in order to cut off Vaporeon by running through a bush and ramming his horn into the dog's body.

"Damn it! Recover and use Quick Attack!" Alex ordered.

Vaporeon rolled on the ground before jumping back on her feet but Nidorino wasn't about to let her execute her attack.

"Horn Attack!"

Since he was already moving fast, Nidorino's horn grew quickly and started to shine as he leaned forward in order to hit the Water Pokemon's front legs before she would have a chance to begin moving.

Seeing his Pokemon struggling to keep up with his opponent, Alex arrived at a conclusion "Since he knows that Vaporeon has to use Quick Attack in order to keep up, he focused on making his own Pokemon faster to take advantage of that. That phrase he said must have meant that he realized Nidorino's ability. Since he doesn't have Poison Point, that leaves Rivalry and Hustle. From there he could easily check it by training with others. Nets must have helped him with that. But if that's all he has planned... No. I can't be too careful."

Even though there was a lot of things to think over, Alex's mind processed them at a speed normal humans wouldn't be able to. He learned to condition himself to group his thoughts and cut off unnecessary ones, doing it all in an extremely short span of time, making it possible to have separate streams of thought at once. What could take a normal person half a minute to arrive at, took the Admin one tenth of that time, and during that Vaporeon was hit only once.

"Water Pulse!"

"Fall back!"

Nidorino did a backflip which allowed him to hang in an air when the wave of energy flew below him, hitting the nearby bush.

"Acid Armor and Aqua Ring!" using the time bought by their previous attack, Alex went with the combination that brought him his previous victory.

Vaporeon surrounded herself with a protective ring of water while also liquifying her body before the two combined into a single watery form. Having already considered the possibilities of Red wanting to lure him in by making it seem like he didn't have a plan, Alex was too careful for his own good. The short time he spent going back and forth with the ways he should go about attacking was enough for Nidorino to land on the ground.

"Horn Attack!"

"Horn Attack?" the Admin repeated, surprised by the fact that the boy would choose a close range battle even after how it played out the last time "Dodge with Quick Attack!"

Vaporeon's liquid body looked almost like it was sliding through the grass when she circled around Nidorino, making her opponents attack miss. Alex looked at Red's face, hoping that it would help him in determining whether his suspicions were justified but the teenager's excited face remained mostly the same whether his attacks were successful or not. One thing that was clear was that the Admin couldn't win by just trying to dodge everything. He decided to risk it, hoping that seeing even part of Red's plan could help him to come up with a counter. He was fairly certain that there was no way for Nidorino to have something that would provide him immediate victory as was the case with Vaporeon's trap in their previous battle so that made the man a little more comfortable with the fact that he was about to do something potentially dangerous.

"Counterattack! Get in there with Quick Attack!"

The dog was still running in the opposite direction, since her trainer managed to decide what to do faster than anything significant could happen, but she spun around and charge at the Poison Pokemon. Nidorino turned towards her and stood his ground while giving Red a quick glance which didn't go unnoticed by Alex who however didn't intend on letting his carefulness hinder him. Vaporeon jumped at the opponent and swallowed him in her body which at that point lost its shape and was starting to look more like just a blob of water.

"Shock Wave!" Red shouted.

Before Nidorino even could have trouble with breathing, he released electrical energy from his body which immediately came in contact with Vaporeon which in her liquid state was even more dangerous, causing her to explode and rain down on the battlefield.

"So that's what he had in mind." Alex said to himself while already coming up with a way to deal with this, not worried in the slightest by his Pokemon who was slowly assembling herself as far away from Nidorino as she could.

The dog took enough damaged to cause her to revert to her normal form, although still surrounded by Aqua Ring. She looked at her trainer with hope that he had a way to deal with the fact that their winning tactic from last time proved useless.

"Don't worry. I already..."

"Version B." Red said, loud enough to gain Alex's attention.

The Admin was so busy with his thoughts that he wasn't completely sure if he heard right what his opponent uttered "Did he? Wait. Was th..."

"Aftershock!"

As if on cue, Vaporeon's body started shaking and she cried out in pain while a small trail of purple smoke escaped from her mouth.

"Of course." Alex said while cursing his own inability to foresee something that was so simple.

Since Nidorino's only Poison type move was Poison Sting, he couldn't use it with his mouth trapped in Vaporeon's body. But if he already knew that he was about to be swallowed up, he could use one of his limbs in order to use a move with a similar effect. What was more worrying was that depending on how early he did it compared to Shock Wave, and also on whether Vaporeon's parts were put together in exactly the same way before she exploded, the poison could very well be right in the middle of her body, affecting her more than if it was just an attack delivered from the outside. But that also meant that there was a possibility of getting rid of it if they played their cards right. The Admin looked at the pond in the middle of the battlefield and thanked whatever it was that made him choose this type of field since he didn't do it deliberately.

"Get to the pond, quickly!" he ordered.

"Not so fast! Nidorino, follow her!"

Seeing her opponent running around the water in order to get to her prompted Vaporeon to use Quick Attack to reach her target faster.

"Use Acid Armor!" Alex commanded as his Pokemon made a big splash "This should allow the poison to disperse and... No. That was his plan all along. He didn't know about the pond before battle but that just means..."

"Shock Wave!" Red announced while striking a confident pose.

Nidorino released a wall of electricity which fell on the pond like a sheet right after Vaporeon turned into liquid, making it impossible to escape from the attack.

"I was too sure of myself. After our last battle, he didn't just focus on strengthening his Pokemon or developing a strategy. He also came up with what moves would be useful and how to make that Poison Jab, or whatever it was, hurt more by using Nidorino's ability. I didn't think ahead so no matter how fast I was with figuring out what he planned, his mind was free to devise new plans on the spot. Right now I'm also thinking about what to do once this attack ends, but he must have already a follow-up prepared. In the end it makes it seem like he's thinking two-steps ahead so unless I risk it even more and try to predict things so far into the future that I have no way of knowing about them, I won't be able to do anything without him already having something to counter that."

Vaporeon managed to reform herself once again, this time feeling that she was free from the poison that was in her body.

"Double Kick!"

Since her trainer was busy being angry at himself, any chance of being able to avoid the move disappeared since Nidorino was already running at her even before getting the order. His first kick raised her a little but the second, a spinning drop, sent her back on the ground. Alex was still battling himself but even with Aqua Ring being there to help with decreasing the damage, he was too ashamed of how his own foolishness led to his Pokemon being in such a sorry state. Even with his interest in Red, he didn't for a second consider that this happened due to the boy's efforts and focused on thinking that he became lazy because he got too comfortable with his position as Admin and with the fact that they were very close to achieving their goals. He promised himself to be better with predicting his opponent's moves and, already thinking about his upcoming bout with Green, he pointed a pokeball at Vaporeon and placed her inside it before she could be hurt further. Red, who didn't realize how much his opponent was dealing with in his mind, became a little disappointed when he saw that the battle was over. Him not knowing about Alex's struggle was great for allowing the Admin to save face.

"Don't look so down, my boy. There was no need to continue this any further since I was already able to see what you're capable of. You passed this test. Greatness awaits you." these words were more tailored to what the man himself would like to hear as a praise but he figured they would also work for Red.

"But we can still have a fight in the future, right?"

"Yeah. I mean, I would be glad to."

"Maybe next time you'll take me a little more seriously..." the boy said, lowering his voice, while turning away and going towards the stairs with Nidorino following him behind.

Alex felt slightly unnerved by the idea that Red acted like he could defeat him even if they were both serious but he decided to laugh it off, reminding himself of how strong he could be when he actually tried. That lead to him thinking about the following fight. He didn't want to make the same assumptions about Green as he did about Red but he still needed a way to make himself look good. There was no chance of him gaining the boy's respect even if he won so he considered going all out from the beginning and scaring him into submission but he had to remember that they had spectators whom he didn't want to look desperate to.

"It's truly a thin line I'm walking here..." he jokingly said to himself, unaware that Green was already waiting on the opposite side of the field, waiting for the man to notice him.

"Are y..."

"Yes, yes. It's time for our fight. And since I'm such a stand-up guy, I'll allow you to choose the field." the Admin looked at his opponent with a smile and nodded towards the device responsible for changing the field.

He hoped that Green being able to choose where they fought would be viewed as a handicap that would draw away attention from the fact that he wanted to beat him as quickly as possible.

"I don't know what you're planning and it may be foolish of me to act this way but I'm going into this battle with a mindset that I have kept till now and intent on keeping in the future, that being that I won't trust anything you're doing could be beneficial to anyone besides yourself."

Not giving it a second thought, Green threw a pokeball and Jynx appeared on his side of the field.

"Ahh... He's still sour. Not that I can fault him for that... Well... I could. And I probably should. I'll just have to go along with this. Him not changing the field also counts as him choosing this field. That should be enough..." Alex spoke to himself before looking back at Green who looked irritated by the fact that he had to wait for the Admin to make his move "Alright. Let's get to it. Go, Jolteon!"

Alex continued looking at Green's face, having learned his lesson from the previous and trying to figure out what the boy was thinking so that he could have a counterattack prepared before anything would even happen. Suddenly, Green's face mellowed out and he stared right back at the Admin, making him feel shivers running through his body. It was hard to tell if this was intended to intimidate him but it felt different from the natural confidence that Red exuded.

"It's time for our finishing move!" the boy announced.

Red leaned as close to the window as he could while Otari and Nets almost fell back in shock after hearing these words. Alex was similarly surprised by this statement but his instincts kicked in and immediately tried to rationalize this behavior as his opponents trying to play with him. This caused him to let his guard down for exactly the time needed for Green and Jynx to execute their plan.

"Perish Song!"

Jynx put one of her hands on her bosom and breathed in before singing a short but powerful verse that sounded almost like someone chanting in an ancient language.

"So that's what he planned. Given that Jynx would be at a disadvantage simply because of how my Pokemon is, he had her learn a move that could at least get him a draw. I don't think anyone would normally go with such a tactic but he's not necessarily trying to win. Despite that, he doesn't look like he's actually that desperate to prolong this fight. That means that he has something else up his sleeve and this was only a precaution... For him at least. When it comes to me, he wants to keep me in check by constantly having the thought that I need to hurry up somewhere in my mind. This could lead to me slipping up and he's definitely set on using any mistakes on my part. In a weird way, this fight is building up to be more exciting than the one against Red." Alex instantly went over his thoughts about Green's possible plans.

"I'll play your game." the Admin said out loud "Jolteon, use Pin Missile!"

The dog turned the hair on its back into projectiles which flew at her opponent with great speed.

Naturally, Green ordered his Pokemon to dodge but during that time Alex also gave his next order "Use Agility to get close!"

Jolteon quickly reached her opponent and jumped at her from the side, already expecting what was the next move she was supposed to use.

"That's right! Thunder Fang!"

"Predictable." Green commented, although quiet enough that Alex couldn't hear him "You know what to do, Jynx."

At the exact moment that Jolteon's mouth closed down on Jynx's arm, the Ice Pokemon used her free hand to deliver a punch to the dog's face. The side of her head started to freeze so she tried to let go but her teeth were also stuck.

"And the second one." Green said, without the need to state the name of the attack, which was enough for Alex to realize that he once again walked right into a trap set for him.

The second attack was a slap. Jynx created a ball of mud in the palm of her hand and slammed it into the foe's face, causing her to let go and blinding her in the process. Alex himself found it weird how calm he remained about the situation although he hoped that it wasn't him getting used to being tricked. He came to the conclusion that focusing too much on Green's plan would lead to him only getting more tangled up in the strings that Green tried to control him with.

"I just need to do my thing. Improvise, adapt and not get discouraged. Like him." he looked at Red who was watching their fight with a big smile on his face "Jolteon, fall back! I just came up with something!"

The dog listened and put a significant distance between herself and her opponent, even though she was troubled by the mud in her eyes. She used one of her paws to get most of it out of the way and it didn't look like Jynx was planning to stop her, seemingly keeping with a schedule that Green's plan ran on.

"If that didn't work then he'll probably have Jolteon used Thunder Wave and then try again... Maybe he'll use the bushes to try and trick us. My plan is already flexible but I still have to be prepared for surprises." Green commented while looking at a watch he borrowed from Otari "We still have time."

"Jolteon, use Pin Missile again..."

"Hmm?"

"...and then grab one of them before it reaches her!"

The dog shot out a bunch of hardened spikes with Jynx either avoiding them or blowing them away with Powder Snow but Green decided to keep an eye on what Alex was trying to do. Jolteon managed to catch a needle although she wasn't sure what she was supposed to do with it.

"You can charge it by using Thunder Fang and use it to extend your reach!" explained the Team Rocket member.

When electricity started coursing through the piece of hardened hair, it began to glow with a bright light. It was close enough to her regular Electric attacks so she wasn't distracted by it as she charged at Jynx, aiming to run by her and perform a slashing attack.

"Powder Snow!" Green yelled, hoping that it would slow down their opponent enough to allow them to launch a counterattack, but their efforts were wasted.

Jolteon performed exactly as planned, causing Jynx to fall down on one knee as she held onto the spot she was struck in.

Green didn't want to show that he became worried about the outcome of the battle but he couldn't help glancing at the watch which didn't go unnoticed by Alex who after seeing that was dead set on using this improvised move to finish the fight as quickly as possible.

"Another one!" commanded admin.

"Ice Punch the ground!"

Without turning towards the foe, Jynx struck the ground with both her fists, even though she would prefer to keep one of them on her wounded side. Jolteon tried to avoid the wave of ice which quickly travelled through the field by jumping over it, hoping to deliver the attack from air but the Ice Pokemon was prepared to face her.

"Powder Snow!"

Being hit by the attack made it even harder to maneuver in air and left Jolteon seemingly open to another move.

"Ice Punch!"

"Throw it at her!"

Jynx's hand met with Jolteon's face at the same time as the dog's missile struck her other arm. The Ice Pokemon felt that the hit limb would be useless for the rest of the battle so she focused on putting as much force behind the other one as she could. After receiving a powerful blow, Jolteon couldn't even manage to land properly, instead hitting the ground with her body while giving out a pained howl.

Even with his Pokemon hurt, Alex couldn't help but get more and more taken in by the battle "You need to get up! It's not over yet!"

"I'm afraid it is." Green stated while wiping away the sweat that accumulated on his forehead.

There was a point in the battle where he realized that his chances of victory harshly dropped so he was relieved that he came up with the strategy that could earn him at least a draw. Alex was so pumped up that he didn't immediately realized what his opponent meant by that but his words slowly brought him back to senses and allowed him to clearly see that both Jolteon and Jynx were being affected by Perish Song. They started coughing uncontrollably while puffs of black smoke escaped their mouths before fainting shortly after.

"And it was just getting good." the Admin commented, completely forgetting the mindset he started this battle with "Return, Jolteon."

"Come back, Jynx. You did a good job."

Seeing that Alex was approaching the middle of the field where the pond was situated, Green did the same, although making sure to avoid the still frozen grass.

"You passed." the Admin said while showing a genuinely happy smile.

"You're saying that as if you think I care."

"Weeell... There is something you care about, isn't there? You should do well to remember it... him... when talking to me." Alex said, a little saddened that Green would react in such a way "I mean, I'm just saying stuff to keep you here. You have no way of actually knowing if I'm telling the truth but the fact that you're doubting me is actually a good thing. I myself don't tend to trust anyone."

Green became a little interested in what the Admin had to say "How about Red?"

"I like him and I know that he isn't the type to lie but there's something in me that still keeps me doubting him. That applies to everyone, even our boss. I believe in what he's trying to do but there's still a feeling that he could try to get rid of me as soon as we reach our goal. You probably think that it's not good to live in such a way but the world... the people... still haven't proved me wrong."

"But you don't intend on actually doing anything to my grandfather?"

"As long as you keep being obedient. That still doesn't mean that I trust you. After all, I have no way of knowing if he actually means anything to you. I feel like you could be hiding a pretty mean part of yourself. Well... meaner than what you've shown me."

"And you're telling me all this because...?"

"You also have no way of knowing if anything I just said is the truth." Alex explained before bursting into laughter.

It took a lot for Green to stop himself from punching the Admin but he couldn't help thinking that he actually agreed with him on some points of what he said.

Red and the others came down the stairs and approached the two of them. The boy congratulated his friend with a fist bump after learning that he managed to pass. Even though he wasn't sure what it meant, Nets was also happy for the both of them. Otari was the only one who didn't seem enthusiastic about it.

"So... what's next?" Green asked Alex after the excitement died down.

"You get to meet the rest." he replied.

* * *

Woohoo. We're at 200k words already. I didn't know I had it in me to write this thing for so long. It's still nowhere near the really long fanfics but we're only halfway through Kanto. If I manage to keep my interesting in writing this, someday we may be somwehere up there in length. Let's just hope that quality stays the same(or gets better in case you think it's bad right now, I imagine that's eniterly possible). But anyway, if you're one of the people who read this from the beginning, no matter when you started reading it, then thank you. I'm still a little sad that I don't get any reviews and while I'm mostly writing this for myself, the fact that I see more and more views each month definitely helps in keeping me motivated.

We reached the end of the guardian storyline and Blue can go on to get more involved in the main story. Even though I tried to paint her in a likeable light, there's still a bunch of people dissatisfied with how she treated them. We'll see how that affects her in the future but for the meantime she has her own problems to deal with as she begins to learn more about herself and what makes her connect with others. Maiia wasn't actually a character in my original plans but with how important she has been for Blue's development these last couple chapters, I'll be sure to have her appear in the future. I don't even remember if I described how she looks like. Hmmm.

The other story also ended. Or rather, it's going into its next part. We learned a little more about how Alex's mind and got a possible explanation of what his relationship with others looks like. There's also an explanation for why Green is hostile to him(aside from him being a criminal, of course). There aren't any details but I'm sure you get the gist of it.

A thing I think I should work on is having multiple characters in a scene. I can't remember the last time in this story where there were more than 3 human characters talking amongst each other. I like shows with big casts and obviously we have 3 main characters, 8 Leaders, 2 Elite Four members and 7 named Team Rocket members(excluding the Leaders), not to mention various other characters that appeared for a chapter or 2, but I feel like I should challenge myself in the future to have a bigger group of characters appearing together and see if I manage them well.\

The title refers to Perish Song, to Red and Green passing the test, and to Blue "graduating" from the camping grounds.

Red. Team: Nidorino.

Stasis: Eevee, Charmeleon, Raichu, Gloom, Gyarados, Pidgeotto.

Badges: 4

Green. Team: Jynx.

Stasis: Venusaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, Horsea.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Weepinbell(Bell), Blastoise(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, Vaporeon, Jolteon, ?.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.


	39. 33: The Most Dangerous Game

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 33: The Most Dangerous Game.

Another meeting of Team Rocket Admins was about to begin but because one of them was absent it has been running a little late.

"I swear that I will kill him if he keeps us waiting even a minute longer." Peter commented about Alex being late.

"Killing him isn't an option listed in any part of the Team Rocket rulebook... but I'm sure I can find the harshest punishment possible for making the boss wait for our video conference." Angie added, even though the previous person wasn't talking at her.

Blaine, who was also allowed to sit in on the meeting, kept quiet, although in his mind he kept on wondering how Giovanni could keep control of Team Rocket if his immediate subordinates seemingly all hated each other.

"Hey. Sorry for being late but..." Alex tried to get his excuse in right after going through the door but stopped when he felt something fly past him.

He touched his head and noticed that part of the hair was missing. He turned around and saw a knife sticking out of the wall. He looked at the gathered and immediately understood that Peter was the one responsible since he didn't even bother to pull back his hand after throwing the weapon. Alex would try to confront him but the fact that the other Admin could throw the knife with such force that it would embed itself in the metal wall made him a little hesitant. He couldn't however allow himself to lose composure so he pretended to style the hair with his hand as if he was expecting to get this haircut.

"What's the meaning of this? And I don't mean you being late. You're acting even weirder than usual." Angie said to him.

"Whaa? When have I ever acted weird? That's a mistake. No. Not me. And as for being late, I have a great explanation."

"Let's hear it." Blaine decided to take control of the situation before it would go out of control.

"This meeting, like always, is supposed to be about our plans and accomplishments. I imagine we'll also discuss the progress on getting M2 out of that cave. Of course first we'll have to connect with the boss. But instead of just talking about what I achieved, I thought it'd be a good idea to show you."

"What the hell does that mean?" Peter asked.

"You'll see. Come inside." Alex said while opening the door for two other Team Rocket members.

"Hey, everyone. How have you been?" Red stuttered a little because, even to someone as carefree as him, being placed in front of two people whose plans he thwarted in the past seemed a little awkward.

Peter, who was using one hand to hold up his head as he slumped over the desk, almost hit his head when he slipped up after witnessing this surprise. Angie instinctively pulled herself as far away from the door as she could, all the while sounding like she wanted to say something but only giving out incomprehensible noises.

"This clearly has to be a dream. Something like this wouldn't happen in real life. Yes. Now that I think about it, the juice that I drank before bed tasted funny. That's why my aim was off. If it was real life, the knife would hit that idiot in the forehead." Peter tried to rationalize what was happening but he was talking so fast that even Blaine, who was closest to him, couldn't make out most of the words.

After spending some time panicking, Angie looked at everyone's faces and realized how foolish they must look. Even though she wasn't prepared for something like this, it was her duty as an Admin of Team Rocket to deal with this to the best of her ability. She calmed herself down and was about to stand up when Blaine beat her to the punch and approached the group by the door.

"I haven't been to many of these meetings since I prefer talking to the boss one on one but I'm pretty sure that you aren't supposed to bring your subordinates with you." he said to Alex and got a closer look at the boys while waiting for an explanation.

"They aren't just my "subordinates". Actually, they've only been part of Team Rocket for like 10 days or so. I was the only Admin in the base at that time and I decided to keep it secret from the others until I was done preparing."

"I'm not sure I follow... Don't I know you from somewhere?" the scientist asked while looking at Green who kept silent and turned his head, embarrassed that they were being shown off like rare stones or other collectibles.

"He's the grandson of Professor Oak. His name is Green. That's already something interesting but Red here has a bigger connection to Team Rocket. He interfered with our plans several times in the last couple months. He played a big role in trapping M2 in Cerulean Cave."

That last bit of information left Blaine speechless. He didn't want to show how shocked he was after hearing that so he sought help by looking towards the other Admins, hoping that one of them would have something to say about the situation.

"Ohh... I don't know how you did this but it seems even a fool like you can be useful if he tries. I'm sure that the boss will be delighted to see me spill his blood after learning that he was the one who delayed us this much." Peter talked while slowly moving towards them, preparing to reach for the knife stuck in the wall.

"You'll do nothing of the sort."

The voice sent shivers down the long-haired Admin's back. The others felt similarly intimidated. Everyone besides Red and Green recognized it immediately and turned towards the wall opposite of the seating area and saw that the communication screen was on and they could see Giovanni sitting in behind the desk in his office, looking at them one by one, causing the Admins to involuntarily bow their heads. Blaine was a little calmer but he also lowered his head after adjusting glasses. He couldn't however keep himself from worrying that the boss would get offended by the fact that the two new members didn't seem too keen to show him respect in any way. Green quickly understood that it would be a good idea to follow the others' lead but Red couldn't focus on what seemed to be reasonable. Instead, he walked forward to get a better look at the man leading the organization he's been fighting against for all these months.

"So you're Giovanni."

The boss seemed to ignore him and instead glanced a the bowing Team Rocket members as if he was hoping to learn something by watching them but gave up since he couldn't see their faces with their heads so low. Additionally, none of them wanted to risk trying to pull down Red since it would mean that they themselves would have to raise their heads which they wouldn't do without Giovanni demanding it.

"Leave us alone." the man demanded.

"B-but..." Angie was so shocked by that order that she couldn't help wanting to learn the reason but she couldn't come up with a good way to ask.

"I don't want to hear any "buts", even from you..."

"Yes, sir." she answered after calming down and proceeded to leave the room, the others following in her footsteps.

Green wasn't sure if he was supposed to do it too so he lingered a bit until Alex pulled him away. The door closed behind them but they were still too nervous to talk. They took some time to calm down and although they were wondering what Giovanni could want to talk about with Red, there was nothing they could do. Instead, Blaine decided to focus on learning some other things.

"Were we already connected? What happened there?"

"I panicked and initiated the video call." Angie confessed while shyly holding up a hand.

"You made things more complicated than they needed to be." Alex complained although he looked a little afraid of Peter who kept staring at him with angry eyes.

"Wouldn't the same thing happen even if you called him after explaining to everyone why you brought us with you?" Green asked, making everyone remember that he was there with them.

"And what, pray tell, was the point of all this? Why do you have Professor Oak's grandson with you? And that other boy?" asked Blaine.

"Red has been the proverbial thorn in our side for way too long. He even managed to get inside one of our bases. I couldn't just let him go and as much as I enjoy giving my underlings a smack when they annoy me, I'm not into killing people just because I can't deal with them like Mr. Stabbity Stab over here." Alex explained, looking at Peter during the last part "But letting him rot in a cell would be a big waste of his potential. Even if we managed to get M2 back, taking control over the world won't be as simple as most of our people seem to think. We need capable people to deal with anyone who would try to oppose us. Red is a better trainer than any of our henchmen and I came to learn that Green also isn't too bad. That's why I decided to make them part of Team Rocket. I took precautions to make sure that they couldn't easily betray us but I'm also hoping that they will see that we aren't actually as bad as people think us to be. I thought this was important enough to discuss it with the boss."

"That... actually makes sense." the scientist noted.

"Does it?" Peter and Green asked almost simultaneously before looking at each other with disdain.

"I'm against it." Angie said while putting up her hand "This isn't in line with the rules of Team Rocket. I'm sure that the boss also realized this and is coming up with a proper way to deal with that Red boy right now."

"That's weird. I thought you also were inte..." Alex didn't finish his sentence because the girl stopped him by standing on his foot and giving him a mean look.

"I probably shouldn't be saying this without knowing what Giovanni's decision is going to be but I would like to get to know you, Green." Blaine turned towards the boy and adjusted his glasses "I've met your grandfather on a couple occasions but we're both such busy men that we didn't have time to discuss the things we're working on properly. Wellll... There's also the matter of the "thing" I was working on not being completely legal. I'm sure that being his grandson you must have at least a little insight into his work. I would greatly enjoy discussing it. If you visit me in our laboratories, there's also a chance that you may begin to view Team Rocket in a slightly better light. There are some parts of what we do that I don't completely agree with and I realize that talking about "doing it for the greater good" would make me seem like a mad scientist, the likes of which you can see in every science fiction movie, but if someone like you, who clearly has no sympathy for us, can begin to understand why we're doing what we're doing, then that would give me hope that other people would also come to realize that we aren't so bad."

"Alright."

"Wha-? That's all you're going to say?" Alex was surprised.

"I wanted to come up with an insult that would imply that I'm smarter than you. It would most likely make at least one of you angry, thus proving my point and giving me a bit of satisfaction but... I don't really care." he said, visibly not showing any interest in the situation he found himself in, instead finding another thing that interested him "Aren't you also a Gym leader?"

"Yes. I'm the leader of the Cinnabar Island Pokemon Gym, although I've been a bit preoccupied lately so I have an assistant who gives out the badges to people who go through a short quiz that tests their Pokemon knowledge." Blaine responded.

"Is there any more Gym leaders who are part of Team Rocket?" Green inquired.

"Are there?" Alex wondered "I mean, we didn't learn that Professor Humane was one until recently."

Angie and Peter also showed interest in the matter and all of them turned their curious eyes towards Blaine who felt a little intimidated.

"No. Of course not. There was a possible third one but the boss and him didn't see eye to eye. However, I cannot wait for the day when the other Gym leaders join us in changing this world. We're getting closer and closer to that moment. I'm positive."

"Is there a short way you could explain why... Just... why?" Green asked Blaine but after that his eyes travelled between the other people.

"You mean why we're doing this? I could explain it but... I don't think it would be short." Blaine answered.

"Until you officially become one of us... If you do... Only then will we have enough trust to talk about such matters." Angie added.

"You don't really need to know. Each of us is doing it for a different reason and we don't really care about why the others are doing it. I've never heard why these two are part of the organization and I don't really care as long as I get what was promised to me." said Alex.

"Even if the boss allows you guys to join, we're not going to become anything close to friends. Even if you work for me, if there's a chance that you dying will bring me what I want then I won't hesitate to stab you in the back." stated Peter who got so bored by waiting that he sat on the floor with his back against a wall.

Green saw that every single one of them was a loner which led to him wondering what they could have in common if Giovanni's goal was something all of them desired to see fulfilled. And what about the boss himself? This whole thing was clearly the work of his life? The only thing that was clear was that he hoped to somehow change the world and that he didn't plan on doing it an exactly peaceful manner since he created something as powerful as M2 in order to do it. Did any of the others know what was going in his mind or were his thoughts similarly hidden? Blaine was the only one who used his name but it was in a conversation with them and not to the bosses face. There was however another one that seemed even more suspicious. He was sure that he heard him saying something that made it sound like Angie was more important than the other Admins. There was almost no chance that the girl would tell him the reason, even if she knew it, but it was better than waiting there in an awkward silence.

"Hey, what..."

He was interrupted by the sound of the opening door. Red peeked from inside the room and looked at them one by one as if he was trying to see if none of them went missing during these couple minutes.

"Come inside." he announced with a smile, leaving them all temporarily astonished.

It seemed like his conversation with the boss went well but no one expected this kind of reaction, and although Green was his friend, even he couldn't come up with what Red could have done to convince someone who could be called his nemesis to allow them to stay part of Team Rocket. The fact that Red wanted to stay also left him wondering if he had some planned or was he just going along with what they wanted until he would have a chance to get back his Pokemon and escape this place.

"What are you waiting for?" Red asked and Green noticed that he was so absorbed by his thoughts that he was the only one still outside the room.

After everyone was finally inside, the door closed behind them and they started to sit down. Although there was a fourth seat added to the usual three to accommodate Blaine, there were none for Red and Green. The former hopped onto Alex's desk although making sure not to obscure his view, while the latter stood against a wall, near the door.

"Congratulations, Alex." Giovanni spoke up after everyone made themselves comfortable.

"Wh... I mean... Yes. Thank you. I guess this means that Red explained everything to you?" the Admin didn't know if he should be satisfied seeing as the boss's face didn't change, so he decided that it would be safer to ask Red, about what they talked about, once they left the room.

"I know that the rest of you probably have something to announce to me but first I'd like Blaine to step up. I want to hear the news about what the science division has achieved so far concerning M2."

"There's not much to say." the scientist was being truthful "I could explain what we're doing but the science behind it something so new that some of the stuff we're working with don't even have proper names. Thanks to having other samples of the original, we were able to use the cloning process that created Mewtwo in order to change the DNA in the samples to the same one that Mewtwo has. Or, at least, we're really close. We didn't have time to do proper tests once it fully matured so we can't be completely sure. We only have a couple chances in order to get it as close as possible. Once we do that, they'll serve in enabling a link with Mewtwo through the machine we're building. It may be impossible to break through that barrier but as long as we keep the link up and the machine close, we should be able to create a temporary gap in the field. The only problem after that is how we're going to make sure that it doesn't run away again."

"I already have other people working on that."

"What?!" Blaine sounded shocked, a fact he immediately noted and regretted although he tried to hide it afterwards "I didn't hear anything about this."

"I didn't want to put all of the hard work on you. If you want, I'll arrange it so you'll be able to contact the science division working in the headquarter. Maybe there's some way you could help each other."

"Y.. Yes." the scientist answered timidly, suddenly feeling awkward that he was the center of attention and begging in his mind that Giovanni would quickly turn to someone else.

"So... What were the rest of you doing while Alex was busy with getting these young men to join us?" the boss asked while looking in the general direction of Peter and Angie, probably not caring which one of them would answer first.

Angie felt that she needed to redeem herself even though she didn't know how her previous actions were percieved by Giovanni but the moment she was about to open her mouth, Peter started talking "I was thinking about trying to steal the masterball. I've heard rumors about Silph Co. trying to develop a pokeball that would be able to capture a Pokemon without the need for a battle. One of my underlings is in a relationship with Silph employee. He's low in the ranking but he unknowingly provided us with the info that the masterball prototype is about to be finished. I'll need to do this thing solo since getting through their security with force could prove harder than sneaking in. The idea is that once we get it, we'll use it to capture M2. This should make this a little easier, right?"

"It certainly would. I have one objection."

"Yes?" Peter didn't like the tone used by the boss but he would never mention it.

"You won't be doing it alone. I want either Red or Green to go with you."

Peter clenched his fists which didn't escape Giovanni's attention but the Admin still tried to keep calm when asking "What's the reason for this?"

"They passed Alex's test but I feel like they should do something to gain your recognition."

"Did... Did he do something for you to be willing to give them a chance?" Peter asked while glancing at Red.

"That's not something for you to know." the boss answered simply and immediately turned to Angie, signifying that he didn't want to talk with Peter any longer "What have you been busy with, my dear?"

Green raised his brow while hearing how Giovanni referred to the female Admin, even if his voice still didn't show any emotion.

"I've had my people gathering information about Darkness Gang for the last couple months and I think we're close to finding their headquarters. When I learn its whereabouts, I'm going to investigate it personally and try to learn as much as I can before initiating an attack that will get rid of them. From what we heard, their strongest fighter, Faust, is dead. That will make it a lot easier."

"Good. However, I want you to also involve one of the new members in your plans. Understand?"

"Yes, Sir." she saluted him.

"She'll have to get in line." said Alex "You may have thought that I would be satisfied with just bringing in these fine additions but I have something else I want to focus on until we're ready to take back M2. This kinda concerns you, Blaine."

"Does it now?" the scientist seemed curious.

"There's a laboratory on Cinnabar Island that deals with analyzing fossils, right?"

"That's true."

"Well, I heard that they got a big batch of them and these aren't just your regular fossils. They have this machine that can revive ancient Pokemon. I'm not just talking about stealing them. We have a couple of them that we got from the mountains near Lavender Town and as someone who has a slight interest in science, I want to compare how different the actual ancient Pokemon are to their relatives that survived to this day. If we can take the best of both and breed them, then we may have something great on our hands pretty soon."

"That sounds fine. You were already thinking about taking one of the boys with you?"

"I'm already great buddies with Red so I'll be happy to get to know Green a little better." he said while giving the latter a sly smirk.

"Then I'll take Red with me." interjected Peter "If he messes this up..."

"It looks like you'll have to wait your turn, Angie." the boss noted.

"Wh... No, no. It's not like I was excited about working with them or anything of the sort. I still have time so I'm fine for now. I'll take one of them with me once they return from their earlier missions but only because you asked me to."

"Of course. Now, if that's all, then I bid you farewell." the boss said before disconnecting without giving the Admins a chance to react to his words.

With everything that happened during the meeting, most of them couldn't help but feel at least a bit awkward about how things were going. If they were to discuss it amongst themselves, it would be hard to even find a good starting point.

The only one who didn't seem bothered was Red who quickly got off the desk and looked at Alex "So? What's for dinner?"

. . .

After ending the call, Giovanni leaned back in his chair. To a regular person he wouldn't look any different than normal but his secretary could read little hints given off by his body movement. The fact that she was there to hear the whole conversation, including what remained a secret from Admins, made her curious enough to break the silence.

"I don't want to sound rude but... Why did you decide to trust that boy?"

"Trust him, Resse? No. I simply chose to believe in the good in him. If he's willing to try and understand us... understand me... then I want to give him a chance. This works in our favor because if we ever find out that he lied, he can become useful to us in a completely different way. It's like we're playing chess and cards at the same time and we have to guess if he's a pawn or a joker."

* * *

I finished this chapter fairly quickly, mostly because I took a day off in order to visit a dentist, but it's shorter than what you're probably used to at this point. The following two chapters could end up being even shorter since I wanted to show each Team Rocket mission separately. There's some other stuff that I was thinking about putting in them. Blue will return soon and then the chapters will probably get longer again, although I could be speaking absolute bullcrap.

I purposefully left out the most interesting part of the meeting out of the story and I don't plan to show it in the future but you'll come to understand what happened as you read on. There was still a lot of stuff going and some of it still may seem mysterious but with the upcoming chapters I want to make it clearer why the Admins and Blaine behave in certain ways while also giving focus to the color kids. That's why I always had the Admins in the section below. Once Blaine and Giovanni show off their Pokemon, I'll probably add them there. I'll try to never have too many characters there but these 8 will continue playing important roles in several upcoming chapters.

The title comes from a short story by Richard Connell. It refers to what's Giovanni talking about at the end, both the game he's playing with Red and Red himself.

Red. Team: Nidorino.

Stasis: Eevee, Charmeleon, Raichu, Gloom, Gyarados, Pidgeotto.

Badges: 4

Green. Team: Jynx.

Stasis: Venusaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, Horsea.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Weepinbell(Bell), Blastoise(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, Vaporeon, Jolteon, ?.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.


	40. 34: Flames That Melt the Ice

Recommended Music: Gundam 00 Ending 1.

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 34: Flames That Melt the Ice.

Red and Peter walked in silence for a long time, the latter leading the former to some mysterious part of the base. Other Team Rocket members they passed on the way had to wage their curiosity about the new member against their fear of ever getting on Peter's nerves. One of his immediate underlings decided to gather his courage and approach the two of them but he still felt his legs tremble when they stopped in front of him after he blocked their path in order to satiate his curiosity.

"Isn't this the guy whom we fought against in Lavender Town? It was so quick... He was wearing different clothes... And we barely escaped the police after waking up..."

"Move." Peter responded unusually calmly.

"Wha-?" the henchman sounded more shocked than one would expect from someone who was used to working with this particular Admin "I... I know it's not my place to pry but I think we deserve some explanation."

He looked around at the other people in the corridor. Some of them were part of the same group that Red fought at Pokemon Tower but there were also others, even some that never met the teenager and were just interested after seeing someone accompanying Peter with a smile, even though it was a barely noticeable one. The thing that was common for all of them was that they turned their heads when Peter's underling looked at them hoping that someone would speak up, since none of them wanted to chance that the Admin would remember their faces and punish them for associating with someone as impertinent as the person in front of him.

"Ehh..." Peter let out a sigh since even without looking around he knew that this man was the only one he would have to deal with it, but he still didn't feel in the mood to deal out the pain like he would usually, his mind clouded by the same mystery the asker was trying to figure out.

He swung his arm, making the henchman close his eyes as the fist approached his face, but he stopped when his thoughts once again wandered towards figuring out why Red was accepted by Giovanni. This made him curious about something and he wanted to check it right away.

"You do it." he said while looking at the boy.

"Do what?" Red asked, making the Admin question if his order wasn't clear even with the visual help right in front of the teenager.

"I want you to punch him."

"Oh. Okay."

Even though Red's words made it sound like he would do as told, he didn't move an inch and just looked at Peter with a calm expression. The Admin, the person he was about to hit and all the other members were too confused to react in any way besides staring at the boy, as if they expected him to make some sudden movement.

"And...?" Peter asked.

"What?"

"Are you going to punch him or not?" the Admin was so stupefied that he couldn't even bring up his anger.

"Nah."

"What?"

"Don't wanna."

"Are y..."

"Maybe later."

"I will..."

"But probably not."

"You're..."

"Are we done here?"

Peter's instincts made him turn around and raise his other hand in preparation for an uppercut he would deliver to the teenager's face, when one of the other people in the corridor made the worst mistake they could. Even overtaken by mixed emotions, Peter could hear a slight chuckle coming from one of the female grunts.

"Are you crazy? He will..." her friend was trying to calm down the woman but when the Admin turned towards them she knew that it was already too late to do anything besides hoping that she wouldn't get punished just for being close to the one that laughed at him.

The laughing girl closed her eyes in fear and was prepared to cry out after hearing a strong slap but she realized that she didn't feel it. Red managed to get between them and recieve the blow in her stead.

"Are you satisfied?" the teenager said while looking at the Admin without showing too much care about being hit.

"For now." Peter responded, which at first surprised even him.

They started walking again and it didn't seem like anyone else would dare to approach them. The girl protected by Red couldn't do anything besides bowing slightly but she did it only after their backs were turned to her. Peter began to question if the way things turned out wouldn't lead to his authority being undermined but he was certain that if he went into a rage and kept on hitting Red without any sign of giving up from the other, it would only serve in building up the teenager in the eyes of others.

The two of them finally reached a room that looked like some kind of laboratory, with many people walking around and doing work with various machines. The Admin led Red to one of the devices. It looked like a giant barrel with multiple plastic eggs being held inside it. Peter used a console to make the machine move and finally a mechanical hand holding one of the eggs moved in their direction.

"Don't try anything. Choose one." the man said to Red who wasn't completely sure what he meant until the egg opened, releasing a cloud of chilling smoke, and revealing six pokeballs being held inside.

"They're my Pokemon." he stated the obvious after grabbing one of them and holding it in such a way that it would allow him to peer inside and see that he was holding the one with Pidgeotto.

"Is this the one you want?"

"What? You haven't explained what's going on. What'll happen if I choose one?"

Peter let out a sigh before explaining "This mission we're going on could be extremely helpful in allowing us get back M2 and I frankly don't want you anywhere near it but if you must help me, I thought it would be a good idea to let you use one of your older Pokemon instead of the one provided to you by Team Rocket. Pick the one most suited for stealth and leave the rest."

"So that's what happening..." Red said before putting away the ball and searching for the right one "Got him."

Peter couldn't help being interested in the boy's choice "Who is it?"

"There's no need to tell you since we don't even know if I'll get to use him." the teenager replied, not realizing that even such a comment was enough to anger Peter.

The Admin didn't want to punish his helper since he still couldn't get a good read on him and any arguing could potentially increase the chances of Red either purposefully failing the mission or even attacking him from behind. He didn't know if Giovanni actually cared for him in any significant way so becoming a hostage could go two ways. He slapped his face after realizing that he was thinking about everything that could go wrong instead of focusing on what he needed to do.

. . .

"How are you holding up?" Lance, who was currently flying above the sea atop his Dragonite, looked at the Pokemon to make sure that it wasn't too tired.

The beast gave out a reassuring sound before trying to communicate something else by pointing forward. They were nearing their destination, Floe Island belonging to the Sevii Archipelago. Dragonite started descending slowly and soon landed safely on the beach, with the nearby fishermen looking at them in surprise. Lance caressed his Pokemon's head to thank it for bringing him so far, before putting it back in a pokeball so it could rest. During that short time, a bunch of people gathered around him, some even shouting towards the village in order to get others to come and see their guest.

Some of the elder people seemed confused about who he could be but most of the adults and children recognized him as a recent winner of the Pokemon League and one of the Elite Four. He was happy to give an autograph to anyone who requested one but he was beginning to worry since, despite their relatively close proximity, Kanto and the Sevii Islands differed in climate and he didn't bring any lighter clothes. He actually had a seemingly identical version of his suit that was made in such a way that it would allow his skin to breathe in the warmer months but after finally getting Agatha to agree and join their cause, he was too excited about going to meet up with the last member of his group to remember to switch his clothes.

"Could you give me a little space?" he asked while slightly raising his hands, showing people that he needed them to step back and give him a chance to catch his breath.

"What the hell do you think you're doing here?!" someone yelled.

Before Lance could see who it was, he was blinded by a fish being thrown at his face. He was so surprised that he panicked a little and almost fell over while trying to deal with the smell. He threw the fish towards some fisherman who looked like he was glad to receive it. After this was done, Lance could finally look at his assailant. It was an old woman, one whom he never met which added to mystery of why she would be angry at him.

"Have you mistaken me for someone?" he asked.

"No way! I would never forget the face of the fool who broke my granddaughters heart!"

"So that's what this is about..." he said while pondering how to quickly deal with this obstacle before he could do what he arrived there for "...You are mistaken. I never stopped loving Lorelei and in fact I'm here today to ask for her hand!"

The woman was left speechless but she didn't need to say anything since the people around them started cheering after hearing these news. Some maidens looked disappointed, probably being his fangirls while the young men seemed to be jealous that about him wanting to steal away the most beautiful girl living on their island.

"Is that the truth?" Lorelei's grandmother asked.

"Yes." he lied.

"Very well. I don't want to get in the way of her happiness. If you go into the town and head to the other side, you'll see a path that will lead you to a cave. Lorelei wasn't home when I woke up so that's probably where she is right now. But let me give you a warning... If you hurt her feelings again, I will know, and I will make you regret that you ever set foot on this island."

The young men cheered after hearing that but Lance ignored them, bowing to the old woman before heading in the direction she pointed towards.

. . .

Lance reached the cave after a couple minutes and even before entering it, he began to feel better about forgetting to change his suit since he could feel the cold air coming from inside while being a couple meters away from the entrance. Once inside, he saw that the walls and the floor of the cave were covered in ice and snow so he made sure to step carefully in order not to crack his head open by slipping up and falling down. It was no wonder that Lorelei would like staying in such a place, considering the type of Pokemon she specialized in. After giving it some thought, he realized that it was probably the other way around and it was the environment she spent her youth in that made her prefer Ice type Pokemon. After all, in a way, it was the same for him.

He quickly understood that the cave was a lot bigger than he thought at first and he could very well be below sea level after taking several turns. His memory was good enough to remember from where came but he had no idea where he was heading. Calling out for Lorelei could instead attract the attention of wild Pokemon so he kept quiet while slowly exploring each path he could fit. Finally, he arrived at a spacious chamber mostly covered by water. At first, he was surprised that it wasn't frozen like the rest of the cave complex but his attention was soon grabbed by what he saw on the other side of the room.

Lorelei was standing on a flat rock which was sticking out slightly above the surface of the water. He immediately recognized her raid hair tied in a ponytail even from a distance. She had her signature glasses, a purple skirt and stockings but it seemed like even someone whose so closely related to ice had to prepare herself in order to visit this place since she switched her usual high heels for something that would make it easier to walk on ice while also covering the upper part of her body with a warm jacket. She wasn't alone. The next thing that caught Lance's attention was a Lapras, that he didn't recognize as part of her team, which was trying to impress her by doing various tricks. It seemed to work since the woman kept on laughing even when droplets of cold water would sometimes reach her face.

Seeing that, Lance felt awful about having to interrupt her, especially since he knew that she wouldn't be happy about seeing him. However, instead of worrying how he would convince her to hear him out, he needed a way to get across the lake. He reached towards the surface of the water to check if it would be okay for his Pokemon to swim in it, however it was hard measure it accurately so he decided to risk it, although keeping in mind that he should call it back as soon as he would see that it couldn't take the cold. He reached for one of the pokeballs and released a Pokemon without saying anything. His Kingdra seemed surprised at first, but after spinning around a couple times, diving underwater and coming back up, it seemed like it got used to the temperature. He jumped onto its back and made sure to place his legs in such a way that he wouldn't fall off nor get in the way of Kingdra's dorsal fin.

As they slowly approached the rock Lorelei was on, Lance came to realize that the room wasn't as big as he thought at first. He explained it to himself as the light reflecting of the icy walls making it hard to judge the distance. Their presence didn't go unnoticed for long. The ripples they made reached Lapras's body and the Pokemon immediately turned around to see who it was. Seeing that it was bothered by something, Lorelei managed to stop laughing and also looked towards the ones moving towards them. Seeing Lance must have been quite a shock since it took her a couple seconds to notice that Lapras lowered its head, showing that it was ready to protect her.

"No, no. Don't worry. He's..." she was searching for a right word but calming down the Pokemon was more important than searching her heart so she went with something that Lapras would understand "...a friend."

There wasn't too much space on the rock but Lorelei moved to make room for her guest since having a conversation while looking down at him would probably make her look bad if anyone saw them. Even though there was no one else in the cave, she would never be as petty as to take satisfaction in her elevation, especially since she prided herself on her maturity, even if it was hard to keep her emotions completely in check when Lance was involved.

"I'm listening." she stated, while crossing her arms, after he climbed onto the rock and the Pokemon moved away in order not to disturb them while playing around in the water.

"You know... If it was anyone else I would probably try to come up with something that would first make me look better in their eyes before saying something like this, but we have a history together and I have too much respect to lie to you. I didn't come here to beg you for forgiveness..."

He couldn't help noticing her fingers twitch after she realized that he wasn't there for the only reason that would make her interested in hearing him out but he decided to continue talking, hoping that he would be able to grab her attention again.

"Try to contact you through Brock instead of coming to meet you face to face right away was a wrong move on my part. You know that I don't like to ever regret anything so I came here as fast as I could. I had to deal with Agatha on the way but besides that I took no detours."

"You still haven't explained what you want from me? I... I let my emotions get the better of me when Brock called so even if he said anything meaningful, I wasn't exactly in the right state of mind to remember anything."

"That's understandable." Lance nodded "To put it in simple terms, I'm hoping that you will join the rest of us... Not only the other members of Elite Four but also Gym Leaders and a bunch of other allies, in our efforts of defeating Team Rocket and freeing Kanto from them once and for all."

"You still like talking like a main character. What's worse is that you seem to expect that this is enough to convince me."

"I..."

"Quiet. I don't need to know the details of what you're planning in order to know that your next move was probably to try to appeal to my sense of duty. "Can't you see, Lorelei? That's why the Elite Four was created. If we don't do it, who will?" Something like that? You would say that despite knowing that I didn't become a member in order to be some kind of hero. I don't care for Kanto. As long as this island is safe, the rest of the world can go to hell. There was something else I cared for once but... you know the story."

"We both know that you don't actually mean that. You're saying all this to get some kind of reaction out of me. What is it that you want? You want me to promise that, once our mission is accomplished, we'll leave the Elite Four and get back together?"

"Would you do that?" she asked, surprised that he would even mention something like that.

"Of course not!" he shouted while taking a step forward "My position on this matter won't change! I love you as much as you love me but I already explained to you that till I deal with everything else going on in my life, I can't focus completely on our relationship!"

"It wouldn't have to be completely..." she said quietly.

"What did you say?"

"It wouldn't have to be completely!" she repeated while pushing him away.

"You don't deserve anything less than my complete attention! If you're prepared to spend the rest of your life with me, then I'll gladly do it!"

"What? We never talked about a whole life! It was just..."

"One year! No. That might not be enough. Give me two years! That should be enough!"

"You're insane! You sound like you're talking about marriage!"

"I may truly be insane since I seem to have completely forgotten the reason I came here in the first place. Don't you understand? I need this time since when you're beside me I can't focus on anything but you!"

"Stop saying all this embarrassing stuff!" she yelled while pushing him again, this time a little too hard.

He felt that one of his feet left the rock so he had a fraction of a second to call his Pokemon. Whistling was the fastest way. He couldn't stop himself from falling into the water but Kingdra managed to quickly reach him although it was hard to get him back on the rock so Lapras, who saw Lorelei's distress, decided to lend a helping hand by diving underwater and appearing underneath Lance in order to get him to air. After dragging him onto the rock, Lorelei checked his breathing which made her understand that she needed to help by repeatedly pushing down on his chest. He spat out the water he swallowed and slowly got to a sitting position. What he just went through must have somehow calmed him down since he looked at the woman kneeling next to him with a less passionate gaze than he did right before falling into the lake.

"So? Do you agree?"

"T-to what?" she asked while holding hands near her chest, since her heart was beating very hard because of the rollercoaster of emotions she just went on.

"To helping us fight against Team Rocket."

"Oh. That." she was surprised to find herself so relieved but after everything that Lance said, she felt like she owed him something, especially since her own words about not caring about Kanto were just mean things that she said in order to get rid of him "I agree. I would prefer to stay on this island but when you'll actually need me for something, call me and I will arrive to help."

"That's good. That's a nice thing to hear." Lance responded while laying down on the rock with his arms stretched as far as the space allowed him "What about the other thing?"

"What other thing?" she asked even though she suspected what he was about to say.

"Will you marry me?"

"2 years."

"What?"

"I'll give you those two years. When you're done with everything, you can ask me again... Do it properly then." she said while pretending to adjust her glasses, although she was actually trying to hide how Red her face has become, even if in this cold cave the difference wasn't too noticeable.

"Wait a moment. The answer will be "yes", right? I know I wasn't the best boyfriend but if it's going to be a long con where aft..."

He was shut up by her lips. It wasn't a long kiss but after she moved away, he became equally as embarrassed as she was after realizing everything he did in in this short span of time. There were now two adult people trying to hide their blushing faces while on a small rock in a lake inside a frozen cave, with two very confused Pokemon watching them.

* * *

Sooo... Sorry, not sorry. This chapter wasn't planned. After writing that first scene, I thought to myself that I could add something that would show what other characters have been doing since the story was focused on Team Rocket for the last couple chapters. When Lance appeared for the first time in Chapter 22, I already hinted at the fact that there was something between him and Lorelei but I didn't really have any big plans for the two of them aside from the fact that I knew they were a couple that broke up for some reason. I allowed my imagination to lead me and this chapter is the result.

I'm often worried about writing stuff like this. I don't want to stray from the main story for too long since that's what most likely people expected when they see a new chapter pop up but I also don't want to rush anything. This chapter, and the one about Persian, both try to tell an emotional story but the conflict in them is resolved very quickly solely because if I were to give them proper time, they would grow into separate arcs with several chapters. I have nothing against that but I just don't have that much time and the main story is the one I want to focus on continuuing. I have no one to blame besides myself but I just wish I would get better at this. I just hope that getting this type of story is better than Lance just going up to Lorelei and being like "Yo, we gotta go" and she's like "Nuh-uh" and he's like "Uh-huh".

I don't know how the next chapter will go after what I did her. Maybe it will be half Red/Peter and half Green/Alex but there's actually another character that I wanted to remind you of although I hope that don't make the entire chapter about them once again.

Also, last time I didn't have time to mention Sword and Shield. I don't have a blog or a Reddit account so I think this is as good a place as any to give some thoughts about it. This time they're even a little bit related to the fanfic. I don't know how long I'll be writing this and without playing the games I don't know what kind of story I would write in the Galar region but not taking into account its role in the games, I don't think that Dynamax is good. Kaiju movies exist and there's techniques to make the battles in them interesting but I don't know how they would work in a fanfic setting. I write my battles with details that are supposed to make it easier to understand how dynamic they are and picture in your mind each of the crazy tactics Red uses but there's not enough place in a Gym for a Dynamaxed Pokemon to move around and all I can imagine is that gif of the two Pikachu slapping each other, but like 50 times bigger. Maybe something will dawn on me once I see how they present it in the anime.

Another thing about Sword and Shield are waifus and husbandos. While I'm satisfied with Sonia's and Nessa's designs, we still lack good looking guys. Leon is handsome but he dresses like a dork. I would prefer it if they just stuck to either the king theme or the sports theme and not mash them together into what looks like some kind of jester costume. Hop is just a smaller, less handsome Leon without anything interesting about him. Lastly we have Milo, whose this weird mix of buff and cute that I was never attracted to. The player character has that default face but at least his initial clothes look cool.

Oh. And Pokemon. Yes, yes. Somehow I forgot that this game wasn't a dating sim. Ummm... I like Corviknight and Zacian. I... I don't see why everyone's crazy about Wooloo.

Red. Team: Nidorino, ?.

Stasis: ?, ?, ?, ?, Pidgeotto.

Badges: 4

Green. Team: Jynx.

Stasis: Venusaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, Horsea.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Weepinbell(Bell), Blastoise(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, Vaporeon, Jolteon, ?.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.


	41. 35: Open Fire

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 35: Open Fire.

Even though they were on their way to a place where they would commit a crime, Red couldn't hide his excitement about getting to fly in a helicopter, even if Peter looked like he would slap him again if the boy wouldn't calm down. They were the only people inside besides the pilot who was too focused on getting them to their destination to answer any of the many questions the teenager asked him.

"Where are we going to land anyway?" he turned to the Admin after realizing that he hadn't thought about it yet.

"Our..." Peter began, hoping that it would make Red shut up, but he bit his tongue since he reminded himself that he couldn't trust him with every bit on information "...We have a base in Saffron City. It's not like Kanto has strict air control laws. Unless we make a scene, if people see a helicopter they won't bat an eye. It's the same as seeing a flock of Pokemon in the sky."

"I guess..."

Peter let out a sigh of relief thinking that he satiated Red's curiosity but the boy suddenly perked up signifying that he probably came up with another question, much to the Admin's dismay "Don't even... I will tell you everything once we land. You have to remember that this is a testing period. If it were any normal henchmen I would dangle the from a rope and tell the pilot to fly low and make them hit every tree on the way. I can't do that with you... yet. One mess up from you... One sign that you're planning to betray us... I'm going to kill you on the spot."

"I've been wondering... You seem a lot more negative than the other Admins. What's up with that?"

Suddenly, the helicopter leaned to one side and immediately returned to normal flight, causing Red, who wasn't properly strapped, to hit his head on the seat. It wasn't too painful but enough to make him pass out. Peter glanced towards the cockpit and surmised that the pilot must have noticed that he was reaching for his knife because of how riled up he was by Red asking him a personal question. When the boy woke up, they were already in Saffron, in what must have been the Team Rocket base of this city. He couldn't tell what made him fall asleep or what he and Peter were talking about before it happened. Instead, his thoughts wandered towards Green whom he last saw when Alex took him in the opposite direction after the meeting between the Admins ended.

. . .

Meanwhile, in Celadon City, Erika was having another busy day for almost two weeks in a row. If handling her responsibilities as a Gym leader and a model wasn't enough, she finally gathered up enough courage to discuss everything that has been bothering her with her father. What took precedence over all these things was the matter of Red and Green still remaining missing. She was confident that they would be able to handle themselves when she left them at the casino but the fact that they haven't returned the next day or any of the following days, made her unable to focus completely on anything she was doing.

She barely knew them but still felt responsibility for helping them enter the Celadon Palace. Seeing how the place was owned by a bunch of the richest people in Kanto, instead of trying to get police on the case, she was thankful that no one connected her to the accident that occurred that night. She couldn't however go on without doing anything so she enlisted the help of her friends and servants in putting up missing posters and contacting anyone who could help her learn something. The thought that they were captured by the casino stuff and executed by the mafia kept popping into her head but she didn't want to believe it. It was another day where she couldn't get enough sleep during the night so when she finally got up it was already afternoon. She immediately called the only nurse she had remain in the house while the others continued the search and asked her if there was any news.

"Umm... I'm not sure..."

"What do you mean?"

"We still haven't found them but there's someone here to meet you and it's possible that he could have some information about them."

"You're sure it isn't another person trying to trick us in order to get the reward I promised for finding them?" the leader asked while getting out of the bed and removing her nightgown, allowing it to drop to the floor.

"I... I don't think he would do that. It's someone you know."

"Someone I know?" she asked, still too sleepy to focus on figuring out who could it be.

Without wasting any time, she washed her face and put on some regular clothes she asked the maid to prepare, since getting into a kimono would take too long. She couldn't worry about appearances if there was a chance that she could get a clue about Red and Green's whereabouts. She had to stop herself from skipping stairs by jumping from excitement but she still managed to get the spacious living room fairly quickly. Before she could even see the person's face, she noted the tea and cookies prepared by the maid.

"Welcome. I hope you haven't been waiting too lo..." she started while walking towards the opposite side of the table, but stopped while glancing towards her guest since it wasn't someone she would expect to bring her information, or even someone who would visit Celadon City.

"Don't worry. I've just arrived and the tea is so great that I didn't even feel the time pass. I'm sorry for waking you up, even if one normally wouldn't be found asleep at this time, but I hope that the news I bring will be enough for you to forgive me."

Erika couldn't properly take in what was said by him since she was too shocked after finding out that the person waiting for her was Blaine. Ever since Brock started communicating with the other Gym leaders in order to bring a stop to Team Rocket's actions, the Fire type trainer was the only one besides Giovanni with whom they couldn't contact. What's more, some of them were being suspicious of him since it seemed like he purposefully avoided taking part in what they've been doing. Even though Koga also didn't want to help them, he said it to their faces, making Blaine's stance even more suspect.

"Are you alright?" he asked since she was so lost in thoughts that she couldn't stop staring at him without even taking a seat.

"Oh! Yea... Yes. I'm fine." she responded and quickly moved towards her chair.

Even though she tried to calm down, she couldn't stop imagining the weirdest things without even first listening to what the man had to say. It was hard to tell if he knew how she viewed him but it seemed like he felt a little uncomfortable since he cleared his throat before starting his explanation even though he just spoke.

"I've come to you with information... but also a couple requests. I'm sure everything will be clear after I finish talking and show you proof. Maybe then you'll calm down." he said, noting that her hands were slightly trembling.

"I... My maid said you might know something about Red and Green... They're these tw... I've been searching for them and..."

"It's alright. I know who they are. Let me preface this with saying that they're safe. But before we deal with that matter, there's something else I would like to talk about. You can what I say here to yourself or pass it on to the other Gym leaders. I don't feel like I owe you anything but I don't want there to be any animosity between us."

"That must mean..." Erika started, visibly calmer after hearing even that small bit about Red and Green being safe "...you have some kind of explanation for your absence."

"Yes. That's actually the simpler part. As you probably know, I'm a scientist. I don't ever conduct my experiments with the idea of hurting others in my mind... but some of the work I do can be dangerous. I made a mistake that resulted in me getting hurt. I had to spend a couple months in a hospital, barely able to move. I'm still slightly limping but that's beside the point. As soon as I left the hospital I started working on trying to recover the thing I created since it was... taken from me. I was so busy with this that even though I've been out for quite some time, I didn't have time to respond to all the messages Brock's been sending me. I would want to promise that I'll help you with whatever you're planning to do but I don't know how long it'll take me to deal with my problem."

"That's a relief." Erika blurted out.

"Wait. You're happy that I got in an accident?"

"No, no! I didn't mean it like that! I mean... It's good that you managed to recover. Yes. That's what I meant."

"Oh. Of course. By the way, I have documents concerning my stay at the hospital with me so if you need to confirm it yourself..." he said while reaching towards the bag he left on the floor next to the table.

"It's fine. There's no need for that. It's a shame that you're unable to help us but whatever you're dealing with sounds extremely important." she said, hoping to move onto the stuff concerning her missing acquaintances.

"Alright then. I thought you would be more concerned about this. I know I haven't been great about keeping in contact even before that but I'm still a little hurt." he said while lowering his gaze.

"Are you really?"

"No. Of course not. I'm just joking. Hmm? Was I not believable there? I always thought I would make a good actor but it seems like I was mistaken. Oh, well." he responded while showing a more cheerful face.

"Look. I don't want to sound rude since I'm grateful that you've come here to explain what happened to my... friends, but I would prefer to hear something more about what happened to them if you don't mind."

"Alright. There is one stipulation and I'm sure you'll understand the reason for it once you hear what I have to say." Blaine said in a more serious manner while holding up his index finger.

"What is it?"

"Opposite of what I said about my absence, i don't want anyone else to hear about what I'm going to tell you. From what I've seen there's only one maid in this place at the moment but I don't mean just her. Absolutely no one can learn about this, no matter how much you trust them."

"Why would..."

"Just... If you want to make it believable, have your people search for them some more but you'll eventually have to give up and also tell this maid that whatever I said proved useless. Are you following me so far?"

"Yes, but what's the reason for all this secrecy?"

"I've mentioned before that Red and Green are safe and that's true... for now."

"Stop making these dramatic pauses and spit it out already!" the girl showed her other side while slamming both her fists onto the table.

"From what I understand, when you parted ways with them, they were trying to gather information regarding the Pokemon disappearances that have been happening all around Kanto."

"So it's not only Celadon?"

"No. This is much bigger. One would naturally suspect Team Rocket but from what Red and Green told me it's the work of someone else. Someone much more dangerous. By trying to investigate this matter, the boys put targets on their backs and had to go into hiding after barely escaping the enemy."

"It's so bad that they couldn't even contact me?" Erika asked concerned, although there was a hint of suspicion in her voice.

"None of them have phones and going to buy one or use one in a public place isn't an option when they still have the enemy's eyes on them. I've met up with them by accident. I came to Celadon to ask another scientist some questions regarding my experiment and I ended up helping the boys chase away someone who hoped to capture them and bring them to their boss... whoever that may be."

"So where are they now?"

"I can't reveal that. As I said already, they're safe and I want you to focus on that. I offered them to use my phone but instead of calling someone, Red decided it would be better if he recorded a video and had me visit your mansion to collect their belongings."

"A video?!" Erika sounded more excited than at any previous point during the conversation.

"Yes. Let me just..."

After taking out his phone and touching it a couple times, Blaine handed it to Erika and she immediately played it.

"Hey, Erika. Sorry for not contacting you sooner but we've run into some trouble. I don't know when we'll be able to meet you face to face again but we're fine for now so don't worry. Were... were you worried?" even though Red took a liking to the girl during their fight, he didn't seem sure if she actually felt the same "Green is being grumpy about something so he didn't want me to record him. I don't know what else to say... I hope that our disappearance didn't stop you from trying to work out the problems with your mother. If it's not too much trouble, give our stuff to Blaine so he can bring it to us. I'm sorry that I won't be able to help you with the Team Rocket situation for some time but just keep in mind what I said and act accordingly, got it? Alright, Blaine. You can turn it off."

The message ended and Blaine couldn't help feeling somewhat happy about the joy it brought to Erika's face even though he knew the video was faked. He was proud of himself for figuring out that it would be safer to record Red instead of just allowing him to talk through the phone and everything seemed to work out just fine. Erika allowed him to finish the tea while thanking him multiple times. The maid gathered all of the boys' belongings and put them in one of several empty inventory pads belonging to her mistress. Before handing it to Blaine, Erika came up with a way to thank him for his visit.

"Oh, no. I don't need anything."

"It's not a "thing" per se. It's a view. I like flowers so much that that part of my garden is covered in flowers that bloom during the colder months. Would you care to see them?"

"I'm not a flower specialist but I can't deny that as a scientist I'm slightly interested." he responded, allowing the woman to lead him towards the garden.

It was much bigger than he expected and with various trees and bushes, even leafless ones, he couldn't help but feel like he would get lost in there if the other leader wasn't with him. Erika stopped and her started to look around. Although he could see what looked like a flowerbed, they weren't that close to it. He wasn't sure if it meant that they should be appreciated from a distance but didn't feel confident enough to ask their owner about it.

"Tell Red that I've started working on solving the stuff regarding my father."

"Oh, of cours... Wait. Your father? I thought he mentioned your mo..."

"Vine Whip!"

Suddenly, a green rope shot out from behind one of the trees, and moved around Blaine's body to form a circle that would restrict the movement of his arms. He had less than a second to react but his limping leg actually made it easier when he dropped down to the ground and avoided the attack. The hard part was standing up before another vine would try to catch him. That's why he immediately reached towards his belt and threw a pokeball from which appeared a Magmar.

"He said something that wouldn't sound suspicious yet you would recognize it as a lie. I didn't know what to think of him but this..." Blaine said, coming to terms with what just happened while his Pokemon stood in front, protecting him from any attack Erika could plan to initiate.

"So you're also part of Team Rocket?"

"Team Ro... Oh... Oh yeah. That's even more clever. I should probably be getting mad but I can't help being impressed by his ingenuity." the scientist said after realizing how the woman reached that conclusion "Oh. Sorry for spacing out. That wasn't very tactful of me."

"Are you important enough that me catching you would make them release Red and Green?" she said as Tangela quietly moved between the trees in order to attack the man from the back.

"Probably. But you would have to catch me first, no?" he responded and immediately moved his head and stared right at Tangela who was so shocked by this sudden movement that it left itself open to attacks "Fire Punch!"

Magmar spun around and, in one swift movement, reached the grass Pokemon in order to deliver a fiery blow that sent if flying into one of the trees. Right after landing, it started swinging around the tentacles on its back in order to put out the fire in the front.

"Unfortunately for you my dear..." Blaine said while looking at Erika "...this battle has no meaning to me."

"You don't expect me to just let you escape?" she said while glancing towards the pokeballs at her belt, thinking that she should be ready to go all out in order to stop this man.

"You're not going to have a choice. Magmar, use Confuse Ray!"

The fire Pokemon snapped its finger, creating a spark that transformed into a ball of light that quickly reached Tangela despite its efforts to avoid it. As soon as the move landed, the grass Pokemon lost the ability to move how it wanted. Its movements became so wobbly that it looked like it could fall down at any moment.

"And now you." Blaine addressed Erika who visibly felt uncomfortable imagining what he could mean by that "Smokescreen!'

That wasn't something that the grass type leader was prepared for. Evidently, Blaine's glasses must have been made in a way that would allow him to see even in this black cloud since Erika felt him touch her for a second and immediately understood that he stole the inventory pad. She cursed herself for not just bringing an empty one with her but the fact that Blaine still wanted the boys' belongings seemed suspicious. The smoke started to disappear and both the scientist and his Pokemon were nowhere to be seen. Erika waited a little to make sure that they were gone before returning Tangela to its pokeball.

"Damn it... But... if he took their stuff with him, he clearly doesn't want to get rid of them just yet. Still, I don't feel too proud of how he played me. The worst thing will be explaining it to the other leaders."

. . .

"Wait. So this is your plan?" Red asked Peter who didn't seem to understand why the boy would be so surprised.

"Yes. Stop questioning me."

"But we look ridiculous." the teenager responded while pointing out their clothes which were probably based on the first result that would appear if one searched the word "scientist" on the internet "Your plan is to just walk in there and act like we belong and hope that the security doesn't catch us?"

"No, you moron. Look. We're getting close. We'll stop over there and I'm sure you'll understand once I show you. Just follow my lead and remember that I have eyes on the back of my head."

"My point was that people are going to be suspicious no matter what. I'm too young and you're too... scruffy."

"Why don't you understand that it's taking all of my will not to open your stomach with a knife and make a shashlik out of your entrails? The reason you're on this goddamn mission is to prove your worth to me. And if you're not going to at least keep quiet for now, I'll be sure to use you as a meat shield if the need arises."

"Okay, okay. You've made your point. I'm just going to watch you do your thing if that's what you want."

They walked between a bunch of trees before stopping on the edge of the forested area, close to fence protecting the back of the building housing the headquarters of Silph Co. There weren't any cameras pointed in their direction but Red could see some hanging from the building. He thought there would be at least one security guard walking around but it seemed like all of them were inside with the outside being left to technology.

"Come out, Dodrio and Haunter." Peter said quietly while making sure that the Pokemon would appear close to him.

They looked at him and then behind to check out the building before nodding. It looked like they knew what they were about to do so Red felt all the more grumpy about being left in the dark.

"Let's do this." Peter stated while looking at Dodrio who immediately took the clue and approached the fence as each of its beaks began to spin at great speeds.

The bird's heads moved around and easily cut through the fence, creating a circular opening for the group. Red took a step forward but the Admin put up a hand in order to stop him.

"Not yet." he said before looking at Dodrio while still speaking to Red "You thought that I wasn't prepared but I've done my research. The reason they don't need anyone out here is that these cameras are able to track movement. They won't react to anything too small. A Rattata wouldn't set them off. But a Rattata wouldn't be able to help us get inside without them noticing our presence."

"Is there a way for them not to catch us? Would we have to move really fast so they couldn't follow?"

"We don't have to move that fast but we still need to hurry before someone notices what's going on while Dodrio does his thing."

"What "thing"?"

"Just like we planned, we're starting off with Agility and following it up with Quick Attack." Peter said to the bird who raised one his legs before seemingly disappearing while kicking up a cloud of dust "Now we can go."

Peter jumped through the hole in the fence with Haunter following right behind. Red was confused about what was going on but he remembered that the Admin told him to follow his lead so he decided to trust his plan. Soon, it became clear what was the purpose of Dodrio going first. The camera's were made in such a way that when there were multiple moving objects, they followed the fastest one. Dodrio moved around at such speed that they were focusing on him and part of the plan was that even though they couldn't exactly match him so every time he would change paths, they would be a little too late to make out a clear image of him. The Pokemon made sure to avoid the rest of the group which allowed them to reach back doors to the building without being seen. Red's amazement at Peter's cleverness weakened a little when he saw that the doors were heavily reinforced and had an electronic lock. He wondered if he made a mistake by not bringing Raichu with him but he couldn't tell if disrupting the lock with electricity would work.

"It's your turn." Peter turned to Haunter who immediately flew straight through the doors and moments later opened them from the other side which wasn't secured in the same way as the outside.

The humans went inside and the Admin whistled by using fingers to let Dodrio know that his job was done. The next part was the greatest gamble since they had to close the doors right as the bird would move through it yet before the cameras could see that they were ever opened. They started pushing the doors before Dodrio made it through them but a fraction of a second later, when they were closed, the bird was already inside, all his heads trying to calm down their breathing after dealing with maneuvering at such high speeds. Peter put the bird back inside his pokeball and started walking through the building. Red got a little sad thinking that neither Pokemon received praise for doing a good job.

"What now?" he asked the Admin after catching up to him.

"Now comes the hard part."

"That wasn't hard?"

"You didn't exactly do anything."

"No. But you... That was actually impressive."

"What do you mean by "actually"?"

"I guess I just never thought that joining Team Rocket could lead to me... appreciating what you guys do... I guess. Like, if you watch a slasher movie you don't think "Oh, that murderer killed them in an interesting way"."

"I do."

"I should probably have expected that." Red said with a little sarcasm in his voice "But that makes me think. Why do you carry knives if you're this good with your Pokemon?"

"If my Pokemon is in a pokeball, it'll take a second to release it and another one to give an order. Meanwhile, if I use a knife, I can slice your throat in a second. As long as this world is about survival of the fittest, then I'll always be prepared to dirty my hands to keep my life."

"Is that connected to why you joined Team Rocket?"

Peter turned around and within a second his knife was right next to one of Red's eye. The Admin purposefully avoided slicing him since even the tiniest drop of blood could lead someone back to them.

"That's enough. I don't want to open up to you. I don't need anyone to know about me or try to understand why I'm doing this. The boss told me his plan and I liked it enough that I decided to follow him. I can tolerate the existence of other people but I dislike anyone who interrupts my peace of mind."

"I'm not trying to psychoanalyze you but the reason I'm here with you and not back in a cell in the Celadon base is that I want to learn if what you're doing is actually good. Giovanni convinced me to give Team Rocket a chance. That's what I'm doing. I don't know why Alex is part of this organization but he at least doesn't act like he's scared of something all the time."

Peter moved his hand back and looked at Red with disbelief. It seemed like something the boy said affected him. This was the first time when he didn't seem bitter or angry.

"You would be..."

"Hey. What are you guys doing here? Are you lost?" someone interrupted their conversation.

They were so occupied with talking that they didn't notice that they stopped in the middle of an intersection of corridors. A man who looked like a security guards doing rounds approached them and sized them up.

"I don't recognize you two. Are you new? Do you have identifications?"

"Oh, yes. I'll show it to you right away." Peter said while turning towards the man and approaching him.

He took something out of his pocket. It wasn't what the guard wanted to see but that wasn't important. Peter wanted to bring him close enough so that he could use his usual trick. Haunter's hand appeared from within Peter's body and used Sucker Punch to hit the man's belly, making him unable to catch his breath, before delivering a Shadow Punch to his head in order to make him faint.

Peter bent down and checked the man's pulse before turning towards Red, the marks from fusing with Haunter still on his face "I don't see any good place to hide him around here. I don't trust you enough to watch him or to steal the masterball by yourself so this means that we'll have to hurry up. Our objective right now is to find the place where they get the camera feeds. They don't have them here since they have assholes like this one patrolling the place but I'm sure they have them wherever the ball is stored as an additional security measure."

Red wanted to ask the Admin what he wanted to say before they were interrupted but he stopped himself, understanding that they didn't have time for that.

* * *

I managed to control myself slightly better this time. You still got a decent amount of the main story even if the side story takes up half the chapter. But I still have problems. I don't have a release schedule but if I don't release a new chapter for a long time even if I have time to write, I kinda feel like an asshole. Does anyone have like a preference? Each chapter has been at least 4000 words long for a long time. I release new chapter at least 2 times a month. This time I managed 4 chapters in one month. But none of them is how I originally planned because I feel like I want to keep the readers engaged. That's going to be a problem when I'm writing the next Special Chapter since I spent over a month on the previous one, but it's a different matter when it comes to regular chapters. I kinda feel like it helps by leaving you wanting more but if it was a book, cliffhangers wouldn't really make sense. I probably said something similar in the past but I'm just really worried if me cutting the chapters in order to release them faster results in decreased... not quality... but enjoyment. I enjoy writing them even if I take unexpected detours but I want the readers to like it as much as I do.

About the chapter itself. Hmm. Originally, Erika wasn't supposed to learn that Blaine was a member of Team Rocket but I thought about it when writing and decided that here being clever enough to connect the dots would improve how people percieve Gym leaders since there's a lot of talk about how they're trying to take down Team Rocket but it doesn't seem like they never do anything. I stopped myself from making this go into a full fight but I think both Erika and Blaine came out of the encounter with something good, while also showing off a little. The other Gym leaders will all play a role later on and these two will also remain in the story but I can't just have the chapter be entirely about Red and Peter.

Speaking of Red and Peter, there's actually not much to say. I did everything mostly how I imagined it. The improvised part was that just like with Alex, I put hints as to Peter's reason for joining Team Rocket. I don't know when exactly but you'll learn their backstories in the future, as well as Angie's.

I struggled with the title. I wanted to make a japanese pun but I realized that I used one in the past so I went with the title that's supposed to allude to the fact that the truth concerning the Fire type expert is in the open while also relating to the fact that Erika couldn't defeat Magmar.

Red. Team: Nidorino, ?.

Stasis: ?, ?, ?, Raichu, Pidgeotto.

Badges: 4

Green. Team: Jynx.

Stasis: Venusaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, Horsea.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Weepinbell(Bell), Blastoise(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, Vaporeon, Jolteon, ?.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, ?.


	42. 36: Masterball Run

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 36: Masterball Run.

"Aren't you afraid that we're making too much sound?" Red asked Peter as they quickly moved through the building, looking behind him as they climbed the stairs to the next floor.

"Don't say foolish things. We only met that one guy so far. Either these guys are very confident about their security measures and they decided that they don't need that many guards... or they are stupid."

"It's also possible that your info was wrong and that masterball isn't here at all."

Peter stopped suddenly and looked at the teenager with his mouth open wide.

"You... You never considered that idea?"

"Damn it. I know that my subordinates wouldn't lie to me but if the Silph employee we got that info from purposely lied..." Peter started talking to himself, with even a drop of sweat appearing on his forehead.

"Alright, alright. Calm down. We won't know until we get there. Let's just go."

"Yeah, you're right." the Admin regained his composure, and he did so at exactly the right time.

"Hey? What are you doing he...?" a guard approached them from below but the Admin made him go quiet by jumping down the stairs and kneed him in the face, although catching him before he would fall on the floor.

Red wanted to interpret to as a sign of there being a good side to the Admin but he suspected that he did so because he didn't want the falling body to make too much noise.

"Hmm... Why didn't you use those flying fists this time?" Red asked after Peter caught up to him.

The Admin answered although he decided against taking any more unnecessary stops "It's not something I can just do all the time. When I combine with Haunter, he connects with my soul so that each of his attacks is stronger. The setback is that he powers up by draining my energy. I... wouldn't pass out from using it but I could get slower... That can be inconvenient."

The teenager noticed that Peter paused to keep part of the truth to himself but, after spending a bit of time with him, he understood that trying to ask him further questions about this topic would be useless.

After making their way through another 2 floors without attracting any more attention, they arrived at a spot where Peter put his hand in front of Red in order to stop him from advancing. He moved his head to let the boy know that it was okay to peek and what he saw were two cameras on either side of a reinforced door. This must have been the place they were looking for. Peter took a step back and allowed Haunter to leave his body before taking another look as if he wanted to confirm something before putting the next part of his plan into action.

"This can go two ways but either one will be good for us." the Admin stated before taking one of his pokeballs and rolling it on the floor in such a way that it would cross the cameras' view.

Meanwhile, Haunter flew and disappeared into a wall as close to the door as it was possible without being seen. Soon after, the door opened slowly and a man peered from inside the room. He was holding an electrically charged baton and it seemed like he was ready to use it since he looked around to learn if someone was observing him, before approaching the pokeball.

Red couldn't tell if what he saw on Peter's face could be called a smile but it was the closest thing so he felt really anxious about not being able to see what was happening. From where they were standing, he could hear the door open and the guard's footsteps but he was clueless about how Peter wanted to go about this situation. One clue was that he sent Haunter but that part was mostly self-explanatory. The thing he couldn't understand was the pokeball. Was that just a precaution in case Haunter failed?

Suddenly, what sounded like a roar could be heard. It was followed by what was clearly some Pokemon using a fire move. The next thing was the sound of the pokeball opening but Red couldn't understand what happened in the following seconds. The fact that they could hear the guard struggling for some time put a look of disappointment on Peter's face. He took a quick step forward, already reaching for a knife he hid in the lab coat. Red followed him just to be safe. The clothes didn't exactly make it hard to move but he began to question they purpose after having them be useless in their two previous encounters with the security.

When they made it around the corner, Red stopped after seeing something he didn't recognize trying to attack the guard. Peter kept moving and when he got close enough to see the inside of the room, he understood that Haunter was stopped by a Growlithe which shot out an attack that slightly blackened a part of one of the walls. His other Pokemon, a Gengar, must have been too confused about what was happening to the other Ghost Pokemon to act properly. However, when it saw its trainer running towards them, it reminded itself what was its task and by taking advantage of the guard's surprise attacked him. Although he didn't understand what was happening, the man swung his baton around, making it hard to get a good hit on him.

Growlithe left Haunter after sending another attack its way and turned around to help its trainer but the other Pokemon quickly followed. Peter reached towards the man with knife but his attack was blocked but his opponent blocked it with the baton. Red was observing this fast exchange and began to worry that it would attract too much attention. He looked towards his belt and decided that it was the time to use the Pokemon he brought along on this mission. He threw the Pokemon and immediately ran towards Peter in order to tackle him and cover his mouth. He had to act quickly since the Admin would probably assume that it was an attempt at betrayal.

"Sleep Powder!" he shouted before pressing his face against Peter's chest since his other hand was busy with keeping away the knife that the criminal immediately pointed towards the boy.

The Pokemon Red commanded was Gloom who, although not sure what was happening since he was as sleepy as always, followed the order and released a cloud of spores that put the guard and the remaining Pokemon to sleep.

Red felt that Peter stopped trying to stab him after noticing what was happening. After Gloom's attack ceased, the teenager got up and rolled to the side to give the other person space. Before addressing him, Peter put his Pokemon inside their pokeballs since he didn't bring along anything that could allow him to wake them up. He got up and glanced at Red who was still on the floor, wondering if the Admin was going to get mad at him for deciding to act on his own accord.

"I'm not someone who says things like "I could have done that myself" but we'll see if this was the best course of action once we figure out if we're going to need my Pokemon to enter wherever the masterball is hidden. Until then, I won't praise or bash you for your actions." the Admin explained before going into the room while avoiding the Growlithe sleeping in his way.

Red couldn't help but wonder if that was actually a way for Peter to act nice while keeping up his harsh persona but his thoughts got interrupted when Gloom jumped into his lap and hugged him. It looked like even though he was in stasis, he realized how long it has been since they last saw each other. After the greeting, Red stood up and let Gloom sit on his head so that he wouldn't waste time to release him from the ball if he needed his help again. When he walked into the security room looking like that, Peter glanced at him only to immediately turn his gaze away. Red couldn't know that it was because he looked so ridiculous that even someone like Peter couldn't help but smile a little when seeing him.

The Admin calmed down and the two of them began surveying the contents of the room. Red noticed a big shelf containing various tapes and books. Since Peter was already examining the camera feeds, the teenager quickly looked through the contents of a couple books, hoping that one of them would contain plans of the building. He found a couple books that could be what he was looking for but it looked like some of them were outdated. He needed space to compare them since holding them all in his hands would be impossible. He stood next to Peter and put them next to the control panel, making sure not to press anything by accident. After looking around a bit, Peter noticed what looked like the right room on a couple of the monitors. Using that and the data gathered by Red, they were able to find out where they needed to go and even a quicker escape route than if they just went back the way they came from.

"It looks like we can turn off the laser grid if we do this..." Red pointed out to the Admin while holding up one of the books "...but there's this other security room in a completely different part of the building. They can't see inside here but they'll notice that something is wrong."

"That's going to be a problem. Seeing how things have gone so far, I can't exactly say that we were lucky so far. The guard from the other room has too many options. They can't immediately turn on the grid again since there's a cooldown but we can't tell if they're going to go check it out personally or just raise an alarm. They could also try coming here and that would be the best for us but we can't just count on them being foolish."

"Wait!"

"What?!" Peter turned around, suspecting that someone was about to attack them from outside the room but he quickly noticed that Red was pointing towards the screens "What the hell? Did you turn off the f #$%&g lasers?!"

"No!" Red protested when the man grabbed him by the collar, while Gloom looked like he was about to attack him "They must have been turned off by someone in the other security room!"

"Damn it! What the hell does that mean?! Are they just checking up on it or is there some asshole that's trying to steal it before we do it?!" Peter shouted before throwing down the pokeball containing Dodrio so that he could get on the Pokemon's back "I'm going ahead!"

Red looked at the screens to see if something was going to happen but he determined that waiting there would be a waste of time. He thought it was irresponsible of Peter to leave him there by himself but he didn't have some great betrayal in mind so he left the room shortly after the Admin's departure.

. . .

After running up several sets of stairs and taking numerous turns, Red began to worry that maybe he didn't properly remember where the room he was looking for was situated. He stopped running to catch a breath and look around and, as if to calm his worries, Peter appeared out of nowhere, riding on Dodrio. They zoomed past the boy but when the Admin noticed him, he signaled the Pokemon to turn around and approach him.

"Where is it?! This the right floor but we've been moving so fast that I'm not sure which way I was headed!" the criminal shouted while impatiently shaking his arms.

"I have the same problem as you. What's more, I'm surprised that we managed to get here without attracting any more attention."

"Wait! Who is that?!" Peter asked while pushing away Red's face in order to point out a mysterious figure he saw at the other end of the hallway.

Without giving the boy a chance to look in that direction, he gave Dodrio a signal to rush towards the suspicious person.

"Drill Peck!"

Even though the other party didn't seem to know that Dodrio was approaching them, they managed to easily avoid the attack with a backflip. The bird's beaks pierced the wall but it managed to quickly get them out. Meanwhile, Peter got a good luck at the mysterious person but the fact that they were wearing completely black clothes. and didn't make any sounds, made it hard to even tell their sex. The only things he could tell was that they were fairly short and slim. Even the face of this someone was hidden behind a black mask that looked similarly to the one representing the comedy part of theater. The one detail that stood out was something attached to their belt. Even though it was a short time, Red already managed to run a fair distance of the way towards them and noticed what that object was.

"It's the masterball!" he yelled, making the other two turn their head towards him in shock.

"Give it back!" Peter screamed with Dodrio understanding that it was supposed to try attacking once again.

The other person tried to avoid the attack but Peter's disguise must have worked for the first time since they weren't prepared for someone who looked like a scientist to suddenly jump towards them with a knife in hand. The Team Rocket member was able to get a good slice at the person's face, cutting the mask in two and revealing their face. Since he could already see the face, the other person seemed to decided that there was no sense in trying to cover themselves up. They reached for the material covering their head and ears and tore it off, revealing flowing blonde hair. After arriving next to them, Red stepped to the side to get a good look at their face.

"Treating a fragile maiden in such a way... Have you no shame?" the voice that said these words sounded like someone pretending to be sad.

The person definitely looked like a female and one could want to say that it was an adult based on her face but the pink lipstick, long eyelashes, exaggerated voice and movements made it seem like she wanted to seem younger than she actually was. Red was about to ask for her age but when he noticed that Peter was similarly surprised by how she looked, he remembered what was their goal. He lunged forward, reaching with his hand towards the female's belt but she quickly moved towards him and spun around before leaning back and passing under his arm as if she was playing limbo, before getting back up and using a leg to trip him up.

Peter was ready to make a follow up, hoping that the girl's guard would be down for even a moment after dealing with Red. He barely started moving his legs when another surprise stopped him in his tracks. The loud sound of an alarm pierced his ears and red lamps, protected by small cages, one on each stretch of the wall, started flashing quickly. The sensory overload seemed to affect the girl in the same way as him since he noticed after a couple seconds that both of them were just standing there, looking dumbfounded, instead of doing anything.

Meanwhile, Red already got off the floor and proceeded to throw Gloom at their opponent's face while himself doing a sliding tackle. This two-pronged strategy made it impossible for the girl to come out completely fine. She lost her balance and although the boy wasn't able to reach the masterball, since she turned around when falling down in order to protect it, Peter joined in at the right time and snatched it from her belt. Even though he didn't look at her for longer than a second, he was surprised by the fact that she apparently had no Pokemon with her as signified by lack of any other types of pokeballs. The Admin moved in a flowing motion that allowed him to grab Red with his free hand and get him to a standing position. The girl wasn't about to give up and tried to make them fall with her by kicking them in the ankles right before touching the floor, but even though she struck Peter's leg, he endured the pain and gave Dodrio a meaningful look. The girl had to roll away to avoid another Drill Peck before she was able to get back on her feet while still being pressured into dodging the bird. The fact that she was able to follow her quick decisions with equally fast movements made even someone like Peter a little impressed.

When she moved away to a distance that he deemed to be a safe one for them, he asked her a question "Who the hell are you?"

"There's no need to reveal my name to you since you'll never see me after I make it away with the masterball but if you want to brag then tell people that you've been robbed by the fourth best thief in the world!" she said while striking a pose that reminded the Admin of a flower vase.

"Wait... I feel like I heard something familiar before..." Red said to himself after hearing how the girl described herself.

"Don't..." Peter couldn't find a right word and he was angry at the fact that he was technically responsible for Red losing his focus "She's just making fun of us! We have to make it out of here before this damn alarm brings a bunch of security guards!"

"Hey! I see someone!" a shouting voice of a guard could be heard even among the annoyingly loud ringing of the alarm.

"Well, f #k..." Peter commented before jumping onto Dodrio's back and pulling Red along with himself.

The thief started running towards them but it turned out that she was the one spotted by the security since a Growlithe jumped at her from one of the side corridors. She managed to bend her back to the point where the dog would fly over her but in doing so she lost the momentum and, the moment she got herself back up, her opponents were already gone. Growlithe's trainer appear shortly after and although he couldn't tell what was going, the girl was the only person he could see that could be responsible for the alarm going off, and her black outfit made her look even more suspicious.

"Pin her down! But don't hurt her!" the man commanded.

Before the dog could follow the order, the blonde slipped past its trainer put him in a hold that made it hard to breathe, not to mention trying to get out of it. Even though it went through training that was supposed to make it prepared for unexpected situations, the Fire Pokemon couldn't see a way that would allow it to attack the girl without striking the guard. It tried quickly jumping to the sides, hoping to see an opening but the girl reacted to every movement, waiting for a moment where the dog would try to switch up its tactic. When it finally calmed down in order to come up with another plan, the thief threw the guard's body at it after chocking the man to the point of making him unconscious. In the time it took Growlithe to avoid its trainer and make sure that he was fine, the girl managed to a distance that would make it pointless to follow her. The only consolation was that there were still multiple security guards searching the building for the cause of the alarm. However, it was clear that the female would be able to get herself out of any situation as long as the number of her opponent's wouldn't be too big.

. . .

"What the hell was that?!"

Three members of the security turned their heads when something made its way past them at an incredible speed. Only after seeing its back could they recognize that it was a Dodrio carrying two people and a Gloom.

"They're wearing lab coats but I don't recall any scientist with a Dodrio!" one of them pointed out.

The other two silently agreed and the group started following the runaway bird and even though they quickly saw that it would be impossible to keep up, they didn't want to give up.

"Wait! If we can't stop them, let's leave it up to the building."

"Oh, boy. I've been waiting to see this thing in action!" one of them blurted out, attracting curious glances from the other two "I mean... I didn't want someone to rob us. I just... Stop looking at me like that and call someone who can do it!"

. . .

"It looks like we'll be able to make it out of here!" Red yelled happily while leaning forward to keep Peter's lab coat from flapping in the wind and obscuring the boy's vision.

"Damn you! Don't say stuff like that! You're going to f #$%^g jinx us!" the Admin replied angrily.

"Jinx us? Who are you? My mother when spills salt? Everything's going to be alright! We just have to use one of the other exits!"

"Do you remember all of them?"

"Don't you?"

"I... I tend to forgot things when I get heated up over something."

"Isn't that like always for you?"

"Do you remember them or not?! Answer the question, you clown!"

"Calm down. I remembered some of them."

"They probably already blocked some of them so we have to be... Is the ceiling getting closer?"

"Wha-? Is the ceiling..." the question was so sudden that Red didn't immediately understand what it meant but after a second or two he decided to look up and found out that the Admin seemed to be right "It is! Wait! It's not the ceiling! The floor is rising!"

"Damn it! Are they really trying to do us in with these movie villain traps?!"

"Looks like it!" Red replied while lowering his head since they were already dangerously close to getting squished.

"I refuse!" Peter announced while simultaneously putting Dodrio back in its pokeball, giving himself and Red some more room.

They moved as fast as they could since they could see that there was a part of the hallway further ahead that looked normal but it didn't seem like they were going to make it.

"Go, Nidorino!" Red let out his other Pokemon out of the ball "Use Shock Wave!"

Even though the rest of them was also affected by the attack, it was a small price to pay for allowing the electricity to find its way to the mechanism controlling the rising floor and disabling it. The group made it out safely and Peter decided that it would be safer to forgo using Dodrio unless absolutely necessary. Them moving too fast would make it easier to run into another trap. Although that way of thinking seemed logical, it didn't matter when soon after they were found by another group of guards who were ready to let their Growlithes attack them.

"It's going to be one of these, isn't it?" Red commented with a grumpy voice.

"What are you on about?" Peter asked while observing their opponents who didn't seem too sure about how to proceed.

"How do you say it? Out of the drying pan and into the fire?"

"I... I'm not even mad. I'm just amazed at how someone who acts so stup... casually... when faced with such a situation, could survive so long."

"Well, you're talking to me right now. What does that say about you?"

"I..." Peter began but he quickly realized that the others didn't intend on letting them continue when they gave their Pokemon an order to attack.

"Grass Knot!" commanded Red.

One of the Growlithes got its foot stuck in a trap created by Gloom. The remaining ones looked at it and tightened their formation to cover the gap it left behind while continuing their attack.

"And a Double Kick!"

Nidorino jumped straight at them, causing the two Growlithes left to jump to sides in order not to be struck by its attack but the Poison Pokemon spun around and still managed to graze them which was enough to incite their instincts and make them attack him.

"Shock Wave!"

By trying to physically attack their opponents, the dogs made it impossible for them to avoid the following move and both of them fell down in pain, however, from where he was standing, Red couldn't see that the last Growlithe broke free from Gloom's hold and was about to launch a long distance attack. That could be a big problem if not for the sudden movement of the floor that drew everyone's attention away from the battle.

"Hey! What the hell are they doing?! They know we're here, right?!" one of the guards looked at his co-workers in panic but they were equally astonished by what was happening.

"Is it the same thing again?" Red asked while looking up and then to Nidorino in case he would have to stop it once more.

"Doesn't seem so." Peter replied while pointing out that the floor wasn't raising in a normal fashion but instead the hallway was turning into a slope.

It was steep enough to the point where standing straight was a little hard. Seeing that Gloom had trouble with it, Red picked him up.

"But what's the point? It's not like we're going to fa..." Red stopped himself when he saw something appear on the other side of the building and understood what was happening.

A huge stone ball rolled down from a higher floor and the way they came from became blocked by a metal sheet, meaning that the only way they could escape it was by going down.

"Are you f #$%^g kidding me?" Peter lamented the idea of having to deal with another ridiculous trap but he nevertheless turned around and started moving down.

"It looks like it's moving fast." Red commented while following the Admin together with Nidorino.

"I noticed."

"But if we start to run, we'll probably fall down and crush into a wall."

"I realized that."

"Then what are we to do?!"

"I don't know!"

At that point, the both of them were already moving as fast as they could without slipping up but they had to speed up since the ball was very close. The only relief was that it had to go through the guards and their Pokemon before it would crush them.

"I wonder how close... Huh?! They're gone?!"

Peter turned his head after hearing Red's words and saw that their opponents were in fact not there. That gave him hope that there was some way to escape. The guards were probably helped by someone on their side but there could have been another way to deal with this problem so the Admin started looking around for a way out. He looked up and then back at the ball and seemed to realize something which didn't go unnoticed by Red.

"What is it?"

"There's space. Not much but it's there."

"What?"

They already made a couple turns which meant that this trap probably went on through the entire height of the building and Red was worried by the fact that they were probably already getting to the bottom so he didn't understand what Peter was trying to point out.

"Just have your Gloom use Grass Knot! Multiple if needed!"

Red thought about what he heard for a while before understanding what Peter wanted to achieve by doing that.

"Do you really want that? Doesn't seem your style."

"If it increases the chances of me not dying in this stupid building then I'm all for it! Now shut up and do it!"

"You heard him Gloom. Use Grass Knot to knock that ball up!"

As soon as the Pokemon nodded and made and jumped on the floor in order to use the move, the rest of them stopped. Nidorino didn't understand why the humans dropped on the floor but it also lowered itself. For Peter, his knife was enough to keep him from sliding down but Red decided to keep one hand on the Poison Pokemon just to be more sure of himself. They closed their eyes after hearing the sound of the ball being lifted up but curiosity got the best of the teenager and he opened them right as the ball was flying above him. In order not to get stuck in the hallways of the building, the ball had to have some space. Normally it was about half a meter from the ceiling but thanks to Gloom's move it raised into air and the gap was instead between it and the floor, allowing the group to avoid it as long as they weren't standing up. The main worry was that it would fly too high and fall down on them after bouncing off the ceiling but everything went according to plan and it soared above them and soon disappeared behind another corner.

"That was good. You're actually smart." Red said to Peter after getting up.

"Do you want me to stab you?"

"Whyyy? That was compliment."

"I don't..."

Peter stopped since while getting the dust off the lab coat he felt that something was missing. He quickly took it off and examined his belt and when he didn't find what he was looking for, he did the same with Red's.

"Where the f #k is it?" he said while holding the knife up to the boy's face.

"Wha-?! You mean the masterball?! I don't have it!"

"Yeah?! Then who the hell...?!"

"Ahem!" they heard a third voice coming from below and immediately turned their attention towards its owner.

It was the same girl they fought before. She seemed to be taunting them by holding the masterball in a hand outstretched in their direction.

"See?! It wasn't me!" Red yelled since Peter didn't immediately move away the knife.

"What's your plan, you b #$h?! What's the damn point of showing it to us if you could just run away and leave us here to beat the crap out of each other while arguing over who has it?"

"First off, I don't want this guy's death to be on me." she said while nodding towards Red "My motto is "Make love. Sweet, passionate, cleansing love. Not war"."

"I just learned more about her than I would have liked to..." the teenager stated while checking his neck to make sure that Peter didn't accidentally cut him a little.

"The second reason is that just stealing it wouldn't be enough. Even before you interfered I had a plan to send Silph Co a video about how I managed to get away with it. You see, if I want to live up to the name of the fourth best thief in the world then I have to make it flashy. My own life comes before that but that's about it."

"Now I remember!" Red announced, surprising the other two "Venin also kept mentioning something about him being the third best thief in the world! How do you guys even come up with that? Is there like a ranking or some..."

"You've met him?" the girl asked while getting uncomfortably close to Red so fast that it almost seemed impossible "Wait. Even if you did, how dare you address him with such familiarity? It's "Phantom Venin" you scum!"

Peter took the chance at swung the knife at her but she avoided it by treating Red like a shield and placing him between the assailant and herself.

"You goddamn c #t! It must have been you who dropped that ball!"

"You got that right, ugly." she admitted while smiling mischievously and pushing Red towards him so that she could jump back and start escaping.

"There they are!" someone shouted above them and after looking that way, they saw a huge group of guards and Growlithes approaching them.

"We have to run!"

"Not without the masterball!" Peter protested and reached for a pokeball "Go, Dodrio!"

"Everyone, let's use Flamethrower to defeat them and ask questions later!" a man who looked like he was in charge commanded the rest of the guards who agreed and simultaneously gave their orders.

Peter and Red jumped onto Dodrio's back. The boy returned Nidorino to his pokeball while Gloom once again jumped onto his head. Even though the thieving girl was a good distance ahead of them, the bird Pokemon managed to catch up with her even when carrying two humans on its back. She wanted to dodge them but stopping for even a fraction of a second didn't seem like a smart idea when she could see the Flamethrowers combining into what looked like a giant wave of flames. This made it easy for Red to grab her even though she kept on struggling. He suspected that she was fairly light because of how she was able to move but he was still surprised a little.

"Well, you have me. What now, you brainiacs?"

"Yeah, Peter. At this point it's impossible to tell where we are and how to reach any of the exits." Red pointed out.

"Then we'll just make our own! Don't they say that where there's a wall there's a way?!"

"I... I seriously think both of you are idiots." the girl said while thinking about how dying in such a way would only be spectacular as long as her corpse would still be recognizable after she was burned alive.

"Dodrio, use Tri-Attack on that wall!"

Each of the bird's head shot out a different type of elemental beam which connected at one point and hit the wall. It seemed to crack a little but they were getting closer to it and it wasn't breaking.

"Damn it! He's wasting too much energy with all of us on his back and can't put all of his strength into it!"

"Oh. We can solve that." Red responded before giving the girl a sly smirk.

"Wait. What are you...?"

He threw her. They were already at such a distance that if they managed to bust through the wall, she would fly through it but she couldn't help panicking as she moved through the air and observed Dodrio putting as much strength as he could into his attack.

"Do it!" the three humans encouraged the bird at the same time and that was the push he needed.

They made a huge hole in the wall and Red managed to grab the girl by her ankle and drag her down, as they were falling down, in order to get her out of the way of the giant Flamethrower that followed them outside the building and stopped only 30 meters away from it.

It turned out that they weren't too high but they still felt a small shock run through their bodies when Dodrio landed on the ground. Peter ordered him to keep moving despite the fact that he was already worn out. The rest of them were also tired and he was their only option of creating some distance in case the guards would want to continue their pursuit. The bird managed to get them above the fence and covered a big distance before running out of strength and falling down in some alley far away from Silph Co. Red looked concerned about the bird but he also seemed concerned about Gloom's wellbeing since he took him off his head and even looked inside his mouth. Peter didn't concern himself with that since there was still only one thing on his mind.

"Give it back!" he said while grabbing the girl by the throat.

"Ghh. Just take it yourself you moronic brute!" she responded with some trouble.

"I mean, where did you hide the damn thing?! It's not attached to your belt!"

"It's not?!" the female sounded genuinely surprised and managed to push the Admin away and land on the ground before checking if he was saying the truth.

"Well, if you don't have it and I don't..." Peter once again became suspicious of Red, especially since the girl's clothes didn't look like they could hide the ball anywhere.

The Admin was a little less forward this time and decided to check Red's belt as well as his pockets instead of going for the knife approach.

"It's not here. Don't... Don't f #$%^g tell me that we did all of this and this stupid b #$h dropped the damn masterball when she was flying around!"

"If it's anyone's fault then it's this guy's!" she pointed at Red "He's the one who threw me!"

The girl noticed Peter reaching for the knife and jumped back before he even did anything.

"Aaanyway... I guess I'll be going. Let's hope that we never get in each other's way again. Okay?" she said while trying to cheer herself up by taking pleasure in the fact that Peter seemed even more disappointed than her.

"Wait. What's your name?" Red inquired before she could disappear behind a corner.

"My alias is Meteor. But don' go around saying it casually. Make sure to say "Miss Meteor" when you brag to people about the amazing beauty you met." she stopped and looked unsure about what she wanted to add to that "Well... Not that I care but what do they call you?"

"I'm Red."

"Red. Hmm. Yes. A fitting name for someone like you." she said before walking away and talking to herself "I guess I'll have to ask honey what he has to say about this boy..."

"Hey, Peter." Red turned to the Admin "Now that's the mission is over, will Gloom have to go back into stasis?"

"I don't care. I'm still dealing with disappointment."

"Well, for now you'll be going inside your pokeball." the boy stated before putting his Pokemon to rest and standing up in order to help Peter do the same "Come on. No use crying over dropped milk."

"I thought the saying went "crying over spilled juice"?"

"Did it?"

Peter stood up and stretched his legs and arms a little before turning to the boy "I can't say that I trust you but I can promise that as long as you don't get in my way I won't try to slice your throat again."

"I... I guess that's a start."

. . .

"Hey? Have you seen this?" one of the guards called to another who was busy trying to wake up their friend who was lying unconscious on the floor.

"Whatever it is, we don't have time. We have to wake him up in case he has some clues about the intruders.""Just come and see it." the first one insisted.

"Alright. Just so you will shut up." he said before standing up and walking over to peer inside the security room they were standing next to "Huh? What the hell happened here?"

"That's what I've been wondering. It looks like the bottom part of this shelf rotted away and that made it fall down. All the too."

"But why would it rot? The rest of the shelf looks fairly new. Hmm? Guess what. One of the books fell on the switch that activates the alarm."

"Is that why it turned on?"

"Well, we did have actual intruders. I saw them."

"But maybe that's connected somehow."

"Are you crazy? What kind of thief would pull an alarm on themself?"

"Hmm. Yeah. Forgot I said anything."

* * *

"Gee, I wonder if this chapter will end up too short. Let's put a third character in it." And then it ends up too long. Well, no too long but it definitely took a couple more days to finish it. But I'm happy with how it came out. I almost forgot to write that last part and it's only one of several similar things I scattered through the chapter. In this case, I wrote Red leaving the room in such a way that didn't describe if he did anything before leaving but that he also didn't leave the second Peter left so there was still time to do something, even if it was only seconds. I hope that I don't have to spell out what he did more than I already did.

Peter's last Pokemon is revealed. It's a shame it didn't get to see much action. With this, all the ghosts from Gen 1 made their appearances.

The new character, Meteor. Or that's what she wants to be called. You'll see more of her once Phantom Venin returns. If it wasn't obvious so far, I don't like keeping the story to stricte traditional Pokemon battles and I want the humans to get involved in them instead of just giving orders. Well, here's a girl that doesn't even have any Pokemon and can still fight it out pretty well. I'm not sure if her personality got across well but when she appears again you'll understand her better. Her name is actually related to Venin's true identity but it's such a weird connection that I doubt anyone will figure it out. I'll explain it once we learn more about the two of them.

Peter was good. Red's infectious. He has an aura that makes everyone want to like him but the Admin managed to stay true to himself and it'll still be some time before I reveal the reason for his hostile behavior. I think I made him a little too talkative but it wouldn't make sense if it was Red talking to himself with Peter just standing there.

The title is a reference to Steel Ball Run manga and how there's a lot of running in the chapter itself.

I don't know if I can use views to quantify popularity but, without talking specific numbers, I basically got the same number of views in not even two weeks this July without posting anything as I did the whole July last year while posting 3-4 chapters. But numbers aren't everything. I don't want to sound like I'm begging but if you can spare some time leave a review. Seeing even one word from my readers would mean a lot to me. While you're at it, try to get your friends to read this thingie if you think they may find it interesting. No pressure though.

The next chapter will follow Green and Alex on their mission. Depending on how long it'll be I have a scene or two in mind that I could add to that.

Red. Team: Nidorino, Gloom.

Stasis: Eevee, Charmeleon, Gyarados, Raichu, Pidgeotto.

Badges: 4

Green. Team: Jynx.

Stasis: Venusaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, Horsea.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Weepinbell(Bell), Blastoise(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, Vaporeon, Jolteon, ?.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, Gengar.


	43. 37: Misadventures of Mary the Matchmaker

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 37: Misadventures of Mary the Matchmaker.

"Is this really where we're going to be staying?" Green asked with disbelief soon after they reached a small island near to Cinnabar and saw that the only building there didn't look like a an actual base but more like a normal house.

"Don't complain. We kinda had a base nearby but it got pretty wrecked in the not so distant past. Doctor Hum... Blaine... Yes. Still not used. Blaine allowed us to stay at his house before and after the mission." Alex explained the situation while making motions towards the other people who came with them on a boat "There's probably no reason to say it since you're a reasonable guy but don't imagine that you'll be able to trick us in some way and escape just because we're in a... less organized environment. You wouldn't be able to reach your grandfather in time and Red is essentially our hostage... Although I can't keep worrying about how his mission with Peter went."

"We're finished, sir!" a female Team Rocket member announced while saluting the Admin.

"Oh. Alright then. I'm not too good with long distance sea travel so, even though I'm the best cook here, someone else will have to go visit Blaine's freezer and prepare dinner."

"Is there even a point in us staying here?" Green questioned his decisions "It's almost night. We're not going to use that to sneak into the laboratory unseen?"

"Damn. Sometimes the stuff you say is so unbelievably stupid that I hate myself for allowing our fight to end in a draw." Alex responded while adjusting his glasses "There's several reasons for why we're not doing that. We don't know these waters and it's going to be cloudy so trying to sail under these conditions while relying only on technology would be pretty foolish. We're going to visit Cinnabar during the day and the laboratory we're trying to rob actually allows people to take tours. We'll use that to get acquainted with the interior, come back here, prepare and return before nightfall to commence our heist."

"Now that you explained it like that... Yeah. It sound reasonable."

"Of course it does. It was I who came up with it after all." Alex said before starting to laugh because of how proud he was of himself "Now that everything's clear, let's eat something. And don't forget something for the Pokemon!"

. . .

"I still can't get over the fact of how quick you got after evolving. But then again, you were never big enough for me to travel on your back."

Blastoise made a sound that seemed to give off the vibe that he was happy that there was new way in which he could prove himself useful to his trainer so Blue decided to reward him by caressing his head. It was still early but she already wasted enough time and wanted to make the best of each day while trying to catch up with Red and other people who continued their travels while she allowed herself to stay at the camping grounds for so long. That's why she decided to try out a water route in order to get to Fuchsia City instead of travelling to Celadon through Lavender. Thanks to Blastoise she could get there in a matter of days instead of weeks and she was already getting close, although they had to keep fairly close to the shore in order to take regular breaks. She was a little worried about the fact that she wouldn't be able to have any Pokemon battles during that time but she put those thoughts aside and decided that all the battles she had with the guardian were more than enough to prepare her for another Gym battle.

"Let's just hope that it doesn't get too cold. On Sevii Archipelago there's almost no snow during winters but Kanto is more to the north so I'm not sure how often it snows over here. I've been wondering if we would be able to visit my parents once Zubat evolves, especially since Bonding Day is coming up but fly through snow would probably be too hard."

Blastoise didn't completely understand everything she said but he could hear in her voice that she was saddened so he tried cheering her up by giving out a roar. The girl understood that the Pokemon was worried about her and chose to cheer up in order to calm him down.

. . .

Green felt a splash of water on his face and woke up in panic, immediately assuming the worst and trying to breathe only to realize that there was nothing preventing him. He looked up and saw Alex standing over him with an empty cup and a smirk on his face.

"Aren't you getting a little too relaxed? It seems that when we were in our base you would wake up early to get in as much training as you could but now that you think you've proved your worth you're allowed to become lazy?"

"What do you want?"

"Breakfast is ready. Go wake up the rest."

"Breakf..." Green had to stop himself mid-word because the initial shock and the following anger turned his attention away from how the Admin was dressed and he only just noticed it.

Instead of the usual Team Rocket uniform and a muffler, Alex was wearing a simple white shirt and denim pants with some tears here and there. The surprising thing was an apron he wore over his clothes. The whole look was completed by bed hair, bare feet and a pan with some eggs frying on it that he had in his other hand.

"I have to wake up the others as fast as I can." Green thought to himself before quickly standing up.

It wasn't that he wanted the others to see Alex in his get-up. It was more the fact that the Admin looked like a typical movie boyfriend who was nice enough to wake up before his partner and prepare his favorite breakfast. He felt like someone could misinterpret the situation if they saw the two of them staring at each other.

"I got something good." the same female grunt from the previous day said to herself while hiding her phone and pretending that she was still asleep before Green came up to her.

. . .

After everyone finished eating, Alex once again took advantage of the hold he had over Green and assigned him to be one of the people in charge of the dishes. He was about to pick another person but someone volunteered. The rest of them went on to clean up themselves before a tactical meeting. Green let out a sigh but, since there was nothing he could do at that point, he approached the table and started picking up the empty plates. The girl who was to assist him did the same. He quickly realized that instead of doing it in an organized she was moving rather slowly although while lessening the distance between them after every move she made with her hands. Finally, she was so close that he got a little uncomfortable and decided to confront her.

"Excuse me?"

"Oh, no. Excuse me."

"What are you playing at... umm...?" he was sure that she introduced herself to him before the mission began but he couldn't recall her name at all.

"I'm Mary. But you don't need to remember that."

"Alright." he responded before moving away and picking up another plate before deciding that he wouldn't be able to reach the sink if he tried to carry more.

As soon as he put them down and rolled up the sleeves of his uniform, he noticed that the girl was once again beside him, looking with such intensity that he felt like she wanted to shoot lasers out of her eyes.

"You want to talk about something?"

"Do I want to talk about something? Hmm... Maybeee..." she wanted to tease him a little before saying anything concrete but Green was having none of it and started filling the sink with hot water.

"Alright, alright. I see that you're one impatient guy."

"So? What is it?"

She leaned closer and whispered even though there was no one besides them in the kitchen "I saw the two of you."

Green forgot what impression he got from seeing Alex in his casual clothes after listening to various conversations during the breakfast so he didn't immediately understand what she was referring to but a couple seconds of thinking were enough to remind him. It was clear what she was talking about but he still wanted some confirmation even after seeing a big smile on her face after she took a step back.

"What are you talking about?"

"Don't look at me with those angry eyes. I'm on your side."

"My side? My side in what? What's the other side?"

"Darn it. Am I really not being clear enough. I don't think I interpreted what I saw the wrong way..." she said while looking worried about her judgement before settling on revealing what she meant all this time "...You're into Alex, aren't you?"

"What?!" Green jumped back in shock "Are you insane?!"

"Huh?"

"Someone like him... I'm not into him. I don't even like him. I would be the happiest person in the world if that bastard got thrown into a prison."

"Then what's this about?" she asked while showing him the picture she took earlier.

"Wha-?! I knew that someone could see this and get some ideas but I didn't think someone actually did." Green reacted before gathering his thoughts and proceeding to explain "I was weirded out because I haven't seen him in casual clothes before. I was also a little disoriented because that asshole threw water in my face to wake me up."

"Hmm. I don't know if I can believe you. I would ask him but he's... Maybe I should give up?"

"Give up on what exactly?"

"I was ready to ship you two so hard but you're both quiet guys so I was afraid neither of you would take the first step. Hmmm... Just to be clear, you're not gay?"

"No, I'm... Wait. Is Alex gay?"

"Isn't it obvious?"

"How would that be obvious?"

"I... Hmm. I guess you're right. Unless...!" she suddenly raised her voice and pointed a finger at him.

"Nope. Completely straight. The fact that I have a better sense of style than most male Pokemon trainers doesn't automatically make me homosexual."

"Alright, alright. I get it."

The two of them went silent for some time. Green noticed that the sink was about to overflow and turned off the water before letting some of it go down the drain.

"Why are you interested in Alex's love life anyway?" the boy couldn't help but be curious.

"I get the feeling that whatever relationship he was in previously went terribly wrong and I've been wondering if that's what made him so cold. He's always just reading his books and drinking juice. He got excited about that Red guy but that was more about him finding a worthy opponent. He's still distant to the rest of us. He treated you differently so I thought that maybe finally he found someone who would cheer him up."

"Cheer him up, huh?" Green couldn't find it in himself to feel even a bit of sympathy for the Admin.

"Don't you want to help him too?"

"Didn't you hear what I said? I couldn't care less about his happiness."

"I don't know why you're so angry but maybe if we help him, he'll become nicer and even try to make amends."

"Imagining him acting nice to me... I don't want to say that it's creepy but... Ugh... What do you want to do anyway, now that you know that there's nothing between us? You don't want me to pretend, do you?"

"No, no." she said while gesturing with her hands "But even though you two are connected by something negative, you're still closer to him than any of us. If you could casually bring up his past, then you may be able to learn what went wrong with his past relationship and then using that I'll be able to find a suitable match for him."

"Hmm..." Green pondered what she said and although he wasn't interested in Alex's love life he felt that there could be some benefits to knowing more about him, like something he could exploit "...Alright. I'll try."

"Great. Let me finish the dishes as a show of gratitude." the girl answered while pushing him aside.

"Wait. I have one question."

"Yes?"

"You're not doing this for Alex, are you?"

"I..." it looked like she was considering what answer to give but Green's serious expression made her feel bad about even thinking of trying to lie "...I'm doing this for myself. Well... I do think that Alex and everyone else can benefit from it but it's mostly about my own conscience that I care about. I seriously messed up my previous relationship because of a stupid joke and I couldn't do anything to solve it so I felt like I should try to help other people instead. I realize that I'm still too pushy but I really have good intentions."

"Good intentions, huh?" Green repeated before walking away, leaving her to finish the dishes while he himself started putting away condiments "If everyone in Team Rocket is like that and yet the organization is so rotten then there's some truth to that saying."

. . .

When Green and Mary joined the rest, the girl was able to convince the Admin to let her join them even though he didn't intend to at first. He thought that she probably wanted to show off by volunteering for everything possible and he couldn't fault her for it but he wasn't exactly impressed. Green kept quiet in order not to rise any suspicion and soon the three of them, and two people needed to man the ship, set off towards Cinnabar Island.

They got there in about 10 minutes but with various rock formations around them, Green saw why it would be unwise to try and get there without being able to see the way. Another reason for them travelling between the two islands three times was allowing the person in charge of the ship to remember the way since they would have to escape after dark.

"Alright. We should be back in 1-2 hours depending on how things go." Alex spoke to the two people they were leaving on the ship "Nothing should happen but be prepared for an escape if things somehow go south."

They saluted him before he left together with Green and Mary. As the group made their way through the island, Green kept looking around, impressed by its size. Knowing that it had only one city somehow made him imagine that it couldn't be too big. He also took time to admire the clothes he was given by Alex. It seemed like Team Rocket's based in Celadon had a big section filled with various outfits that anyone could rent out for free. That made him think about whether the members were getting paid or if they just had everything provided to them like their rooms, food and clothes. Was being a part of the organization like an actual job where everyone had to do certain things or were most of them just going along with it in order not to be punished? There must have been people who wanted to quit at some point or another and if they hid that fact, they could very well reveal the location of the base to the police. The fact that nothing like that seemed to ever have happened had him a little worried.

"Here we are." Alex announced in order to gain the others' attention since both of them seemed preoccupied with something else.

The laboratory was in front of them and even without the sign reading "Pokemon Lab" one would be able to tell that it wasn't a regular building. The walls varied in color and were sticking out in weird places making the place look like some modern work of art. No one in the group was particularly impressed by it and the trio quickly went inside. When Alex approached the reception desk in order to get tickets, Green leaned towards Mary and stared at her while trying to make her talk with how intense he looked.

"What are you doing?" she asked confused.

"No. What are you doing? You want me to find out about Alex's past, so what's the point of you coming along?"

"I... Emotional support?"

"Don't joke around."

"Fine." she threw her arms up while saying that "I just wanted to make sure that you wouldn't mess this up."

"Thanks for your vote of confidence."

"What are the two of you talking about?" Alex asked when coming back with tickets.

"Oh. No. i mean... Nothing." Mary was too worried about him possibly hearing what they talked about to come up with a good lie.

"She was reassuring me about how we're going to easily do what we came here for." Green quickly saw that the girl needed help and gave what he thought would be a satisfying answer.

"Remember not to talk about it too loud." the Admin said, mainly addressing the boy as suggested by the annoyed look on his face when he looked at him.

"Then let's talk about something else..."

Mary looked at Green with worried eyes, hoping that he didn't plan a direct approach.

"...Do you like science?"

Alex seemed as surprised by the question as the girl, even stuttering a little while trying to make sure that he heard the right thing "S-science? I guess I like it as much as the next guy. What kind of question is that? Are you asking because we're in a laboratory or are you generally curious and decided that now would be a good time to bring this up?"

"You're always reading books." Green pointed out while gesturing towards Alex's pocket where he saw him hide one of said books not too long ago.

"I don't follow your train of thought. You think they're scientific books? They're not even science fiction. Most of what I read is just stories about regular people."

"Regular people? Are you trying to bring a feeling of normalcy to your life since what you're usually doing is the opposite?"

Alex stopped himself from lashing out since he didn't want to draw attention to himself but he still approached Green to show him how serious he was about upholding his authority "Don't try to analyze me. You're too simple to understand my thoughts."

Mary got between them, even though she would prefer to stay back, in order to make them understand that they needed to relax. Alex understood it as her being worried about their mission but the thing she was actually concerned about was keeping what connected the two of them from changing into something that would make it impossible for them to learn about the Admin's past.

"Let's do this already. I said that we didn't want a guide and instead bought a map of the facility. Of course it doesn't show anything that they would want to keep secure but it still has some clues about where we should start our search." Alex explained while showing it to them an pointing out that the laboratory had multiple sections, each focused on different type of research "We shouldn't head towards our goal right away. We don't know how tight the security here is. Let's just go through each section and try to take in as much useful information as we can before we get there and try figuring out where the fossils we're looking for are hidden."

. . .

After about half an hour of walking around and pretending to be interested in other things, even if some of them actually piqued their curiosity from time to time, the group finally reached the part of the lab responsible for analyzing and reviving fossils. There were various signs that warned visitors against interfering with the people working there which wouldn't be even possible since the busy parts of the facility were actually separated from what the outsiders could see. Luck would have it that they met a scientist that seemed very excited about seeing guests. Alex took note of the fact that there were barely any visitors besides them but the place wasn't a museum and if it somehow got too popular they would probably reconsider having guests. However, the person that noticed them couldn't seem more happier about having someone visit the part of the laboratory he worked in.

The scientist was a short man with a shaved head, a cleft chin, and was wearing what one would expect from a scientist, maybe aside from the fact that he wore flip flops instead of shoes and a tank top beneath his coat that had the silhouette of a Pokemon the three of them were unfamiliar with printed on it.

"Welcome everyone. I hope that you're as excited about fossils as me since I always like to hear people's opinions instead of just lecturing them. Unless you'd prefer that I shut up and let you go about this thing how you want to?"

"No, no. If there's one thing I respect it's someone who's passionate about their craft. I do however have doubts about whether you'll be able to tell us what we would like to learn... even if you wanted to."

"Try me. We'll see how it goes." the man responded while smiling from ear to ear "Oh. by the way, my name's Daniel."

* * *

The best explanation for why this took over two weeks to finish is that I've bought Xenoverse 2 and I've been spending a lot of my free time playing that. That's not a good excuse but it's the truth. I cut off the chapter at a point that I imagine would have been the middle had I released the whole story. It was bugging me that I released four chapters last month and only one in July so I finally put myself to work but I knew I couldn't finish the whole thing.

I guess the thing that will have people the most surprised in this chapter is that Alex is homosexual, or maybe the way in which it was revealed. I've been thinking about a backstory for him since he got introduced and when I got like the skeleton of what made him join Team Rocket it somehow became clear to me. I was like "Oh, of course he's gay." I don't know how to explain that better. But the fact that he is isn't ever going to be important. Even Green in this chapter is only surprised about it for like a second since there are other things about Alex that concern him more. It will matter more than Erika being lesbian since you're actually going to learn about his previous relationship but in my version of the Pokemon world, even if there are various shitty people, there are no people who actually have a problem with someone elses sexuality. Or they exist but are much less common than in reality.

I hope that this doesn't feel forced to anyone. I actually have a couple lgbt characters planned for much later in the story but this isn't me trying to cover any bases. I don't want anyone getting angry at me for doing something similar to Voltron. I will never have token characters in order to fill quotas. If I feel like writing a gay, lesbian or trans character then I'll write them and that's that.

But enough about Alex. Let's talk about the other characters in this chapter. I didn't give Mary a description aside from being a girl which is a thing I've done a couple times in the past. I put an inside joke about it when she says that Green doesn't need to remember her name but basically any character that's not taken from the games and doesn't have a description isn't going to be in the spotlight for too long. You can just take her personality and use that to imagine how she would look. I don't I ever described Roger even though he appeared multiple times so I'm not going to waste time on any other Team Rocket grunt.

Then why did I describe Daniel who appeared at the end of the chapter? He's probably not going to appear beyond this story but he's a character based on one of my best friends. I've been thinking about priniting out this fanfic and go to a place where they would make it into a book so I could give it to him as a present since he recently got into books. I just thought it would be neat for him to suddenly see someone named after and looking like him. They personalities are different and he's most definitely not a fossil specialist but I think that will be enough of an easter egg for him.

I guess that's all. We'll hopefully finish this story in the next chapter and then once again move focus to a different character.

Red. Team: Nidorino, Gloom.

Stasis: Eevee, Charmeleon, Gyarados, Raichu, Pidgeotto.

Badges: 4

Green. Team: Jynx.

Stasis: Venusaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, Horsea.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Weepinbell(Bell), Blastoise(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, Vaporeon, Jolteon, ?.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, Gengar.


	44. 38: Fossil Feud

Recommended Music: This time it's not even music but the word "fossil" is repeated so many times in this chapter that I kept thinking about that scene from Phineas and Ferb. Just look up "Phineas and Ferb fossils" on Youtube if you have no idea what I'm talking about.

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 38: Fossil Feud.

"Ummm... I'm not sure if we should also introduce ourselves." Alex said while looking at Daniel who just told the group his name.

"Go ahead. I think most of my co-workers would say something along the lines of it being useless information that would occupy a place in their minds that could be used to remember something more valuable but to me the fact that you're showing interest in fossils already makes it worthwhile."

"Alright then. I'm Finicci." Alex responded, making his companions confused enough to look at each other as if they wanted to learn from reading the other one's face if they knew that they were going to be using fake names.

"And what about you?" the scientist asked the rest of the group.

"I'm..." Green wanted to introduce himself but he didn't have enough time to think about something and Finicci was weird enough of a name that he wondered if he should use something equally ridiculous.

"I'm Gretel." Mary spoke up in order to avoid raising suspicion although she immediately regretted her choice.

"And I'm Hansel." Green added while trying not to die of embarrassment after both of them showed how lacking they were in their ability to improvise.

"I feel like I knew a Hansel and a Gretel once but I don't really remember them." Daniel said to himself after hearing their names but he didn't care about it enough to think about it for too long "Anyway, where should we start? Fossils. Yes. Fossils, fossils, fossils. There are so many exciting things about fossils. Well, maybe not "exciting" but there are things one wouldn't normally know about them and once you learn them you'll go like "Huh, that's neat". At least I feel like that's most people's reaction."

"I have a thing I wanted to learn about." Green spoke up while lightly raising his hand, unsure if he was being uncouth by interrupting the man.

"Oh. Alright. Go ahead."

"How does reviving the fossils work?"

"Rev... Huh. I didn't expect someone to ask about that. Most people either care about fossils or what comes out of them since they think they're interested in historical value or just think there's a way to profit off of them. No one actually asks about the process which to me is the most interesting part of working here. I'm only one person in a team of hard working people but I still put a lot of effort into helping fine-tune our equipment. We also have people who are specifically concerned with analyzing the fossils before the revival and other people who check if everything is alright with the Pokemon after they come back to life. Based on their feedback me and a couple other scientist make adjustments so that each batch of revived Pokemon can be even better than the last one."

Alex raised a brow since the thought of the revival process still being imperfect left him wondering if there would be a point to try and get their hands on these Pokemon. There was hope in him that the adjustments Daniel was talking about were smaller than he made them sound and that one wouldn't be able to tell the difference between specific batches without having the scientific knowledge. As long as the Pokemon were able to battle and differed enough from the ones near Lavender then everything would be okay.

The Admin wanted to inquire about being able to experience the revival first hand but the scientist was already ahead of him "It will probably be easier for you to understand my explanation if you're able to see everything with your own eyes. Hmm... I know. Wait a minute."

He went somewhere but returned fairly quickly and handed each of them a pass that allowed them to visit areas that normal visitors didn't have access to.

"I'm lending you these but there's a couple rules. Firstly, make sure to always stay with me. Secondly, don't look too shocked about anything or my co-workers will become suspicious. And lastly, don't bump into anyone. Sometimes I myself get a little afraid when one of the other guys gives me an angry look. Haha... ha..."

The group followed Daniel while making sure to follow the rules he laid out and after a short walk they reached a big room with lots of machinery and a couple people working here and there. It wasn't hard to deduce that the cylindrical object in the center of the room was the device that the scientists used to revive Pokemon.

"Impressive, isn't it?" their guide said while looking at the machine with dreamy eyes and forgetting for a while why he brought the trio there "Oh. Excuse me. I tend to get lost in the moment when I think about how great of a thing we accomplished here. i don't want to sound like I'm just praising myself so let's get to it. I'm sure that once you understand what we have here you're going to be at least a little bit impressed."

"We'll see." Alex said although too quiet for anyone to hear him.

"First thing I should probably mention is the types of fossils we have at our laboratory. There's even a couple over here." Daniel said before turning around in order to pick up two fossils to show to the group before explaining what they were "This one is a Helix Fossil. The one in my other hand is a Dome Fossil. The first one contains the DNA of Omanyte and the second the DNA of Kabuto."

"What do you mean by them containing DNA?" Green was genuinely interested in the topic which pleased Alex who knew that there was possibility that he would act a little too curious when asking the same question and would raise Daniel's suspicion.

The scientist laughed a little before answering the question "Well, they're obviously not the Pokemon themselves. I don't know if you've ever seen either of these Pokemon but they aren't so small that I would be able to hold them in my hands like I'm doing with the fossils. We call them fossils but they're different from preserved shells of ancient animals. These are just rocks that took on properties of these Pokemon after they died near them. That's why we say that we're reviving these Pokemon. We're not just waking up something that turned to stone a long time ago. We're bringing to life something that has been dead for millennia. If you'd like to you could think of it as cloning since we're actually using a genetic template in order to make copies of these Pokemon. They aren't the ones that died in terms of their memory or personality but they're essentially twins. Well... not completely."

"You said something about trying to improve each batch of Pokemon." Green pointed out.

Mary looked at him at then back at Daniel as she began to worry that she was the only one there that couldn't follow what they were talking about it about, probably because she was more concerned with Alex.

"It took us a long time before we decided that it would be safe to try and revive the Pokemon. I don't even want to imagine what would happen if we tried it out too fast and the thing we created wouldn't resemble the Pokemon at all. However, even our first couple tries weren't completely... fine. Some of the Pokemon were blind or deaf, many of them aggressive. Each next batch was better refined than the previous one and we're very close to creating Pokemon closest to what we could call a perfect copy."

"How close are we talking about?" someone asked but Alex and Green both were weirded out by the fact that it wasn't the other one's voice so they turned around to see an unknown man approaching and passing them in order to get close to Daniel.

The person was wearing a fairly nice suit but his scruffy face made it harder to determine if they were someone important. Just to be safe, the Team Rocket group decided to keep quiet for the moment and see how Daniel would react to this man.

"Linhart." the scientist sounded surprised while saying the visitor's name "I didn't know you would be coming today. These are..."

"If they're not buyers then I don't care." the man responded while giving them a side glance.

"Buyers? This again? I said it multiple times but it seems like you keep forgetting. We're not going to sell the revived Pokemon. Not for now at least. I see that as an option in the future but they're still not ready. Besides, just because your father is the founder of this lab doesn't mean that you can make decisions like these." Daniel's tone slowly changed from disappointment to a slight annoyance.

"You... I can go talk to the head scientist and have him fire you. I can pay one of those other clowns in lab coats to cause an accident and have it so that the blame falls on you. I won't have to do any of that if you just cooperate with me."

"You underestimate this team. I don't know about the people in other parts of the lab but no one here is going to let you push us around. I got this job thanks to you but I worked really hard to prove my worth. You're not able to take it away from me."

"Why you..." Linhart lost his patience and raised one of his hands in order to slap the scientist.

Green felt Alex's grip on his shoulder, stopping him from intervening but it turned out that he wasn't doing it because he wanted to see Daniel get hit. The attack was stopped by someone else, an older man in a lab coat. The identity badge on his chest signified that he was the head scientist mentioned by Linhart. Alex noticed that he was listening to the conversation even before the man in the suit appeared. He looked like he was enjoying watching Daniel speak about fossils with great passion and was fast to react when his subordinate was about to be struck.

"Let... go..." Linhart was speaking through his teeth since the old man's hold was much stronger than one would expect, causing the young master enough pain that he felt like he could start crying.

"This part of the laboratory belongs to me. I wouldn't take orders even from your father if he was here instead of you, but then again, your father isn't someone who would come here to make ridiculous demands and to threaten members of my team. Unfortunately the apple fell far from the three. Get out of here!"

The head scientist pulled Linhart close to himself before pushing him forward while letting go of his hand which cause the man to fly past the trio from Team Rocket and land loudly in a pile of mostly empty boxes by one of the walls. It took him some time to get up and it seemed like he still wanted to say something but, when he noticed that all the eyes in the room were on him and that none looked too friendly, Linhart decided to make his exit.

"And now... who might you be?" the head scientist turned his attention towards Alex's group.

Green looked at the Admin whose hand was still on his shoulder and noticed that he didn't seem to be paying attention. Not knowing if he was supposed to represent the group, since Mary also didn't seem too keen on speaking up, he gave Daniel a meaningful look and the scientist stepped up to answer.

"It's... They're here because of me..."

"You don't mean to tell me that you invited some strangers into our laboratory?"

"Oh no. We're actually his pen pals." Green felt Alex let go of him as the man approached the scientists in order to help out Daniel in explaining who they are.

"Oh. So you do know them. You should have informed me that they would be coming. They don't seem suspicious but we do have to be cautious, you understand." the head scientist became more relaxed after hearing Alex's words "Anyway, I heard some of what you were talking about and it seems like you were explaining how our team revives Pokemon. Since they're your friends, how about showing them?"

"Really? I can?"

"We're not ready for the next batch but there's something interesting one of our people found among the newest shipment of fossils. Bring it here, Holer!"

The group looked around since they weren't sure who the scientist was talking to but no one seemed to be reacting in any way. They attention was drawn towards the floor in front of the revival machine since they heard a popping sound. It turned out that Holer was a Diglett carrying a fossil. It didn't burrow through the floor and instead appeared from a pipe sticking out of the floor. After examining it closer, they noticed that there were actually many other pipes around the room. They probably worked as a travelling system for the Diglett to move around the lab without actually digging through anything. Green wondered if the Pokemon was the only one of its kind in the lab and if he lived there or returned home with one of the scientists at the end of the day. So far, it seemed like it could be their biggest obstacle in trying to steal the fossils.

"Here." the head scientist took the fossil from the Pokemon and handed it over to Daniel who didn't seem to immediately understand what was so special about it but his attitude quickly changed.

"Could it be?! It's our first one!" he yelled with excitement.

"What? What is it?" even Mary became a little curious.

"See this part? And this?" Daniel pointed to some places on the fossil but the group couldn't see anything unusual "These mean that this could be a Shiny Omanyte. Oh man! I'm so excited! Let's revive it right away!"

"No!" Alex shouted, his voice so piercing that he even attracted the attention of people who didn't bat an eye when Linhart was making a scene.

"W-why not?" Daniel looked a little afraid to ask since in his happiness he forgot that he didn't actually know these people.

"We can see that it's something really important to you. I don't know how rare fossils of Shiny Pokemon are but you said that it's the first one so I assume that they are even more uncommon than alive Shiny Pokemon. I still don't fully comprehend the process of reviving the Pokemon but I feel like you shouldn't do this right away just to put on a show for us."

Head scientist seemed surprised by Alex's attitude but he did nod his head, thinking to himself that he probably should have kept the fossil a secret for some more time.

"Ah. I guess you're right. I wanted to do this right away but this is so important that we probably should be even more careful than usually." Daniel admitted that he got ahead of himself and put the fossil down "But how about tomorrow? I'm going to study the fossil with some other people and we'll try to make sure that you'll be able to see the revival process for yourself."

"Alright. We'll be sure to come by." Alex replied while smiling a little before taking note of the thing around his neck "What should we do with these passes?"

"Oh. Just leave them on that table by the door. Just watch out for the equipment."

"Got it. See you tomorrow, Daniel."

The scientist waved to them even though their backs were already facing the other way when leaving the room.

. . .

The evening finally came. After returning to the island they were staying on and discussing what they saw at the laboratory, Alex came up with a plan but for some reason he decided that it should remain hidden for the time being and he would only reveal parts of it when necessary. Even though Green and Mary were there with him, they couldn't figure out what was going through his head. They talked about it after eating lunch but since Green didn't feel the need to learn about Alex as much as Mary did, he chose to forget about if for the time being and focus on the mission, much to the girl's dismay.

Out of the twenty people their group consisted of, five remained on the island just in case. Some of them didn't look too happy about Green and Mary going to Cinnabar once again while they didn't even have one chance to prove themselves but most grunts agreed that it made sense to have those with previous knowledge of the laboratory with them in case they had to split up. Since it was winter it already got dark before they reached Cinnabar but even when travelling to the laboratory from the point where they left their boat, they remained careful about not acting suspicious which wasn't too easy with over ten people dressed in dark clothes travelling the backstreets of the city.

"You. Come with me for a moment." Alex said while pointing at Mary, surprising everyone besides Green who already was questioning the weird vibes he was getting from the Admin ever since they visited the lab earlier that day.

"What is it...?" the girl asked, after they got away from the group, while trying to avert looking directly at him since she thought that maybe he realized what she was after by joining him for their previous trip.

"I see that you're trying to prove yourself to me for some reason." he answered before opening a small carton of strawberry juice and taking a sip through a straw "I want to give you your chance. I shouldn't assume but I think you're internally shy and trying to work on that by showing off but you don't need to put yourself in uncomfortable situations if you don't want to."

The girl was left speechless after seeing how kind he acted towards her.

"What? Did you think I wanted to scold you or something?"

"Wha-? No, no, no. I didn't..."

"Is there something that you feel you should be scolded for?"

He knew. It quickly became clear to her that he somehow realized the true purpose of what she was doing.

"Don't worry. I'm never mean for no reason. I can be cold but I have a sense of honor that helps me judge how to deal with each of my subordinates on a person by person basis. I won't fault you for trying to get to know me but I don't appreciate someone trying to uncover the past that I wanted to forget about. That's why I'm giving you this."

She looked at what he handed her and asked him in a confused voice "A phone? What for?"

"Me and the rest of the group are going inside the lab. You're to wait outside... Well, not "outside" outside but just make sure that you can see the lab and once... hmm... let's say 20 minutes. Once that amount of time passes, you're to call the police and come up with a good excuse that'll make them arrive at the lab."

"But why?"

"Just do it. In a way, this may be the way you'll be able to learn something more about me."

She swallowed nervously but proceeded to salute without saying a word before parting ways with the Admin.

. . .

Inside the laboratory, a lone security guard has been enjoying a cup of coffee and a book when he heard someone using the doorbell. After looking at the camera hidden above the entrance he saw that it was Linhart. That almost made him spill his drink. He carefully approached the door and opened them while keeping one of his hands on the baton attached to the back of his belt.

"What is the meaning of this?"

"So it's as I suspected. You already saw him. The impostor."

"Impostor? i... There is already one young master inside but how do I know which is real? Or maybe there always were two of you? Oh man, I'm so confused."

"I have proof. Take a look at this note he left." he responded before handing the guard a piece of paper with a lot of words written in a really small font.

It took the man too long to realize that the message was actually a bunch of random words "This is just gibber..."

The guard couldn't finish his sentence as he was put to sleep by a Koffing that he didn't notice flying through the door because of how hard he was focusing on trying to read the tiny text.

"Man, boss. You should be an actor." one of the Team Rocket members, trainer of the Poison Pokemon, said after seeing that the first obstacle was down.

"It wouldn't have been possible without Ditto's help." Linhart said as his face started melting, revealing that Alex who changed his appearance with the help of Ditto "And I'm not really fond of cinematography. Movies these days seem devoid of spirit."

"I..." the underling wasn't sure if the Admin was talking about something in particular or if they were supposed to know what that would be so they decided that it would be best to just let that comment go and focus on their goal "So, we did this part how you ordered. But you haven't told us what's next. The rest of the group is still outside. Should they come in?"

"Yes. Aside from me and Green there's ten of you. I haven't thought about how to split you up but I have certain tasks that I will need candidates for. Remember to contact others only if you're in trouble. If someone's going to interrupt our communication line just because they suck at doing what they volunteered for then that's their own fault."

Soon, the rest of the group entered the building and everyone was assigned a task, leaving only Green to accompany Alex in going to the room housing the revival machine.

"What are you playing at?" the boy asked as they quickly made their way to that part of the building.

"Don't pretend to question my genius. If you can't even comprehend something as simple as this then I'm really worried about choosing you as my right hand man."

"What did you just say? You want me to be your right hand man?!"

"Well, it's the only way I can keep an eye on you. I'm not sure what Mary wanted from you but the fact that the two of you were trying to hide something from me doesn't exactly inspire trust. Or is it that you don't actually plan to try and get on my good side?"

"Is there even one?"

"Of course."

"Would that side reconsider not making my grandpa a hostage?"

"Maybe. You never know."

Green disliked his attitude, and even though he didn't know if his grandfather was actually in any danger he didn't want to take a risk and so he had to play his cards right even if it meant trying to get in Alex's good graces. The problem was that the Admin was quite perceptive as signified by him noticing something going on between Green and Mary which meant that he probably would be able to tell if Green was just pretending to be nice.

"Did you also want to learn about my past?" Alex interrupted the boy's thoughts.

He struggled a little bit with figuring out what was the right answer but finally went with his gut feeling "Yes."

Alex stopped suddenly, prompting Green to do the same, and placed a hand on the teenager's arm before announcing "Too bad."

"Wha-?"

"You fooool! Stupid, stupid! You will never know my secrets!" the Admin shouted happily while poking Green's forehead multiple times.

It took all of the boy's strength not to respond by punching the man.

. . .

Meanwhile, the rest of the team were focused on carrying out the duties assigned to them by Alex.

"Is everything going how the boss wanted it?" someone asked while peeking into a room where a bunch of other people were using their technological expertise to take over cameras and safety measures of the building in order to provide a safe path for Alex and Green.

"Yeah. They're in the clear. I'm just wondering why they wanted us to leave the cameras in the room they're heading towards. Hmm. Someone entered but it's not one of them."

"I'm sure the boss took everything into account. One of our guys managed to find an escape route through the sewers and we also made it look like the security guard passed out because he ate some old food from the cafeteria so we'll just have to wait and see how the main part of the plan works out."

. . .

"This was too easy." Linhart said to himself while entering the room containing the revival machine, chuckling lightly, before pushing a switch that turned on the lights around the device while leaving the rest of the room in the darkness.

That didn't make any sense from the standpoint of what he wanted to do but, even though he was the only one who could see it, he liked creating an awe-inspiring atmosphere wherever he went. He took in the sight while inhaling only to be disgusted by the smell of machinery and sweat that were prevalent in the room, before calming himself down and approaching the device. He stepped into the light and started reaching towards the machine a couple seconds before he could even reach it but as he moved forward he didn't expect something to suddenly trip him up. He fell himself falling down and the only thing he could think about is not wanting to damage the device which meant that he had to move mid-air in order to avoid, causing him to hit the floor with his face. He got up while trying to contain the tears in his eyes and the blood dripping from his broken nose.

"What the hell was that?" his voice was distorted because of the damage he received but he was angry all the same while turning around to see what caused him to fall down.

It was the Diglett living in the laboratory, sticking out from the same pipe he appeared from earlier in the day when delivering a fossil. Since the young master didn't care much for the employees, he never was attentive enough to know that this section had this kind of protector. Before he could come to terms with what he just discovered, he heard a slow clap coming from behind the machine and slowly getting closer.

"You were even more rude than usual. I already had another reason to stay after finishing work but I still suspected that you could be coming back after hours. I'm not sure what you planned to accomplish but I told Holer to be prepared. And now we have you."

Suddenly, all the lights in the room turned on. Diglett knew what would happen and hid in the pipe in order to avoid being blinded for a short while like Linhart. After the man opened his eyes, he saw Daniel standing next to the machine, holding a remote he used to illuminate the room.

"You bastard! Is this how you thank me?! I planned to sabotage this whole thing and get your boss fired but if I have to deal with you first then so be it. This little Pokemon isn't going to be a problem for my team! Go!" while letting his emotions control him, Linhart proceeded to throw three pokeballs into air after giving his speech.

A Machoke, a Cloyster and a Butterfree appeared in front of him. Daniel took a step back. He knew Linhart for over a year but had no idea that he was a Pokemon trainer. He himself didn't have any experience but saw Diglett's abilities a couple times and was sure that he could leave dealing with Linhart to the Pokemon. After seeing the group of Pokemon approaching him slowly, and his only help observing everything with a worried expression, he lost most of his confidence.

"Are you making fun of me?!"

"Shut up or they'll hear you!"

"I'm not putting this on!"

"It's part of my plan! I'm doing this for your sake!

"Then I want that one!"

"No! This one is for me!"

Linhart and Daniel as well as all the Pokemon were so surprised by the loud conversation coming from behind the doors leading into the room that they lost focus and started staring in that direction to find out whom the voices belonged to. The doors finally opened and the duo of Alex and Green jumped into the room, wearing masks that could protect their identities from someone who didn't know them anyway while being useless against those present in the room as the scientist and his opponent recognized them immediately.

"It's those two from before! Did you ask them for help?!" Linhart asked Daniel while pointing towards Team Rocket members.

The scientist was speechless which made the other one assume that he was the lesser threat at that moment and change his focus towards the two who just arrived.

"So you're also planning to stop me?!"

Green got prepared by putting both hands on the pokeballs he brought along on this mission "No. We're here to..."

"Yes!" Alex interrupted "When we're done with you, you'll end up in prison! I have no problem with stealing as long as you recognize the worth of what you're stealing but trying to pervert someone's vision while pretending like it wasn't stolen is something that I absolutely cannot forgive!"

"I'm confused...:" Green stated with his hands already prepared to release his Pokemon but stopped in motion because of not knowing if Alex was being serious.

"What are you waiting for? Kick their asses!" the Admin ordered.

"What about you?"

"I'll save you once you start losing?"

"Great." Green responded sarcastically before throwing the balls and releasing Jynx and Jigglypuff.

"Is this some kind of joke?" Linhart asked, laughing at his opponent's team "This will be a piece of cake."

Without needing to receive any orders, the young master's Pokemon started charging, Butterfree flying ahead to sprinkle its foes with Poison Powder but Green saw what it was planning to do and quickly came up with a counterattack "Jynx, use Powder Snow!"

A gust of cold wind created by the Ice Pokemon blowing into her hand pushed back the bug who suddenly felt itself become heavier. Only after starting to fall did it realize that part of one of its wings was frozen. While Jynx was busy dealing with this opponent, she left herself open to Machoke who looked like it wanted to perform some kind of grappling move.

"Rollout!"

The Fighting Pokemon lost its footing when Jigglypuff formed its body into a ball and hit its leg with great speed before doing the same to Cloyster that also wanted to take advantage of Jynx being distracted.

"What are you idiots doing?! I paid good money for you and I want results!" Linhart shouted before rolling up one of his sleeves and pushing a button that must have been somehow connected to the Pokemon since the three of them cried out in pain.

"It looks like they aren't his Pokemon." Alex made an observation.

"That wouldn't be a problem but it seems he wants to make them angry hoping that they'll become more aggressive. It seems he doesn't realize that dealing with Pokemon controlled by trainers is more often than not harder than fighting against wild ones. He just made it easier for..."

Contrary to Green's words, it seemed that the pain was convincing enough to make their opponent's speed and strength double. Before the teenager could do anything, Butterfree attached itself to Jynx's face, making it easier for Cloyster to hit its target with multiples flying horns it could create thanks to Spike Cannon. Meanwhile, Jigglypuff couldn't muster enough strength to get itself out of Machoke's hold and got damaged after its foe used Vital Throw to send it flying into some equipment.

"What were you saying?" Alex asked while leaning towards Green.

The boy did his best to hide how annoyed he was with the Admin's attitude and responded "Can you just help me out already?"

"You've got it. Go, Flareon!"

Just as Green suspected, Alex had the Pokemon needed to complete the trio of Eevee's evolutions, this one being the Fire type version.

"Hmm?"

He thought that his eyes played a trick on him and rubbed them before looking again but it turned out that he saw right. There were two Flareon's.

"Oh. One of them is Ditto." he quickly caught on.

The fact that Vaporeon and Jolteon both had battle styles that focused on different aspects made the boy wonder was this one's strong side and how Ditto changing into it would help improve on it.

"Burn them!" Alex announced while posing with one of his hands outstretched towards the opponent's.

Machoke and Cloyster were ready to deliver their next attack when both of them were hit by Flamethrower's that pushed them away from Green's Pokemon. Butterfree made the mistake of looking towards the Fire Pokemon which allowed Green to order Jynx to use Ice Punch, this time freezing the bug's entire body.

"It'll be easier if they're all in a bunch." Alex said to Green.

"You've got it. Jynx, throw Butterfree at them!"

Not knowing how to react to their frozen teammate flying at them, Machoke and Cloyster jumped to the sides, allowing it to crush into the ground. The ice caused it to slide on the floor and Diglett noticed that it would crash into the revival machine if it didn't stop it, so it delivered a Headbutt which caused Butterfree to fly back and knock Machoke off its feet.

"Cloyster is still split apart from the rest. Let's fix that with a double Flare Blitz!"

The two Flareon's set their bodies on fire and circled around their foe's in order to slam into Machoke and Cloyster and make them crash into each other.

"It's attack." Green said to himself, realizing what was the Fire Pokemon's specialty.

"Each one stronger than the next." Alex replied after overhearing "Next on the list if Overheat!"

Flareon's used an attack very similar to Flamethrower but this time their bodies were erupting with glowing energy that made their flames almost pure white.

"And now for the Fin..."

"I think they're done." Green interrupted the Admin.

"That's a shame. I rarely get to use the fourth stage of my escalating tactic."

"Y-you guys are crazy! Who the hell are you?!" Linhart couldn't stop himself from reacting although he regretted it immediately after since he most likely wasted his chance to escape.

"What are you talking about? You're pretending like you don't know?" Alex used a sarcastic tone while approaching the young master.

Diglett looked at Daniel who also seemed unsure of what was happening and decided to see what was going to happen next.

"W-what? i don't..." Linhart couldn't gather his thoughts.

"The story went like this; you were mad at this fossil guy and wanted a revenge and so you hired just in case to help you out but you forgot to pay us ahead of time so we turned against you. Now we're going to get away safely while you'll be goooing..." Alex looked at his watch while walking in order to deliver his next line on time "...with them."

Right after the Admin was done talking, the faint sound of police sirens could be heard from outside.

"How did you...?" even Green was surprised.

"I checked where the nearest police station was and since I knew when they would be called I calculated the time they would arrive. We'll need to contact the rest of the group in order to learn if they found an escape route like I told them but before that..."

Alex turned towards Linhart and put up both his hands as if he wanted to punch him. The young master reacted by trying to protect his face but that was also part of Alex's plan. Linhart fell on his knees after feeling a powerful kick delivered to his groin. He fainted soon after that.

"I hope that everything works out for you. This is the best we could do." Alex said to Daniel while both he and Green were putting their Pokemon back in the balls.

"But why did you do that?"

"From what I understand this piece of shit was someone close to you who betrayed your trust, tried to steal your work and get rich thanks to it, right?"

"Yeah..."

"Then we're pretty similar."

"You going?!" Green asked, already waiting near the door.

"Yeah! Right behind you!" Alex shouted back before leaving Daniel, Diglett and the unconscious Linhart and his team.

* * *

I picked up the speed a little but don't count on me being able to deliver every new chapter this fast.

I wanted to include a scene that would properly explain Alex's past but I didn't find a good place where it would fit without slowing down the chapter even more so I'll probably start off with it the next time. I'm also claling it a "scene" but I don't know how much I would stretch it out so I'd rather not risk it. There's enough hints in the chapter so I'm okay with making you wait some more for the full story. I'm also conflicted about whether Green and/or Mary should get to hear it or if it's just going to be a flashback. Alex didn't want to reveal it in this chapter but maybe it was just an act and he doesn't actually care? We'll see.

Apart from that, I think that everything is pretty clear. Daniel is the good boy. Linhart is an asshole. Alex is strong.

Green played a smaller role in this story than Red did in the previous one but that's okay. He'll get his time in the spotlight. But not right away. The next person we'll focus on is... well, still Alex but after that it's something enitrely different.

I'll probably try not to have a chapter focusing on fossils for a long while but at least everything around them is defined enough that if I'll ever have a similar laboratory appear in another region I'll skip the explanations and either have the characters already know about fossils or learn about them "off-screen".

The title is taken from the lyrics of the theme to Extreme Dinosaurs which is probably in my top 5 of intros to western cartoons.

Also side note about Pokemon Sword and Shield since I don't remember giving an update on my thoughts about the game: We still don't have any hot guys! Like, maybe Allister is cute behind that mask but without seeing his face I'll rather choose Sword for Bea's tanned legs and the disapproving look in her eyes. You probably want to say "What about Rose?" Nooo. His face looks so punchable. If they just changed his eyes and eyebrows a little he would be great. There's also Oleana which... I already talked enough about how hot the females in these games are. I'm trying to juggle between 4 waifus while the husbando department is betraying my expectations. Aside from that, is it just me or is it really obvious that Rose and Oleana are the bad guys?

Red. Team: Nidorino, Gloom.

Stasis: Eevee, Charmeleon, Gyarados, Raichu, Pidgeotto.

Badges: 4

Green. Team: Jynx, Jigglypuff.

Stasis: Venusaur, Nidorina, Jigglypuff, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, Horsea.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Weepinbell(Bell), Blastoise(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, Gengar.


	45. 39: No Love Among Thieves

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 39: No Love Among Thieves.

Around five years before defeating Linhart, Alex was still living a normal life in Saffron City, not suspecting that he could ever become a high ranking member in a criminal organization. He was an university student. Since he didn't originally come from Kanto, he rented a small flat. In his first year of studies he lived somewhere else with a bigger group of people but after meeting the person who would become his boyfriend and starting to date him, they agreed to share a flat during their second year.

Back then Alex took their meeting as a stroke of luck since they met by accident at a party. He was a student of literature and his boyfriend's courses concerned cinematography so they would never meet just by attending the same school. What's more, both of them were shy to the point where they preferred to stay in their rooms even on weekends. At least that was the case until the two of them met and started spending more and more time together.

. . .

"Hey, Parizi. Do you have some time?" Alex asked one day after knocking on the kitchen doorframe since his boyfriend seemed occupied with his morning coffee and a newspaper.

The other man, a blonde with pleasant facial features, put down his cup and raised a finger in order to show that he was about to hear him out.

"Yeah, sure. Just let me make a mental note where I stopped aaand... Alright. What's up?"

"Actually "some time" is probably a wrong way to say this. I'll need a looot of your time."

"Just say what it is... You didn't get into some trouble, right? Should I be worried?"

"Why would you assume the worst? It's actually something good. Well, we'll see if you'll be as happy as me about it once you hear what I want from you. Without beating around the bush, I think I finished my book."

Parizi was silent for a while, staring at Alex as if he didn't understand his words. Finally his face lit up and he stood up to quickly embrace his boyfriend.

"That's great news! Why were you acting so fidgety?" he said while trying to lift Alex up but quickly realizing that he wasn't strong enough to attempt that.

"Because of the "think" part. I wrote it, as in there is an ending, but there's still a lot of parts that I'm concerned about. You know how it is. I probably needlessly worry about parts that actually came out good while not seeing how terrible some other parts are. I need someone to read through it to help me realize what works and what doesn't before I even think about sending it to publishers."

"Oh. That's why you meant by needing my time." Parizi said after letting go of him.

"Yeah." Alex seemed to still be embarrassed by his request "I realize that you would probably rather focus on your studies but I just finished writing and you were the first person I could think about. i know you won't probably be the most objective but I don't have anyone I trust more than you."

"Don't worry about it. I actually don't have anything major going on so I don't mind helping you out. It isn't too long is it?"

"Around 500 pages?"

"I could probably read that in 3-4 days but since I'm supposed to analyze it then it'll probably last a little longer. Like a week or so."

"That quick?"

"Well, yeah. What were you expecting?"

"I... I was probably just too worried. Is there something you'd like me to do in exchange?"

"Don't be silly. Just promise me that you're not going to break up with me once your book is published and you become famous, haha."

"I see that your jokes are as terrible as always." despite saying that, Alex also started to laugh.

. . .

"For what I think is the twentieth time, where are you taking me? You know that I don't like surprises." Alex said to Parizi while being pulled along as they walked through the city.

"Just a couple more steps and you'll see. At least I didn't blindfold you this time."

"Because I didn't let you!"

"Here we are." Parizi said after stopping and nodding towards the building next to them.

It looked like an office building but it didn't have a sign that would signify what company it belonged to. Instead there was a list of names next to the door. Parizi left Alex for a while and went to check it before using an Entryphone on the opposite side. He signaled his boyfriend that they were allowed to go inside.

Alex tried to decipher the meaning of their visit by looking around and at first he didn't understand. They used an elevator which had two security guards on the ground floor as well as on the fourth floor which was the one that seemed to be their destination. While looking at names on the office doors Alex began to think that he recognized some of them but he wasn't completely sure. As they went on, he started grasping what place they were in. At least part of the offices must have belonged to film producers. Could it be that Parizi began working on a movie without telling him? Taking aside why he would try to hide it, there was the mystery of how he could have enough time to help him with his book if he was already busy with whatever else he was doing.

"Alright. We still have some time. I was afraid we would be late." the blonde man said after stopping in front of the office belonging to Guilherme, someone whose name was immediately recognizable even if one wasn't really into movies.

Alex stood there in shock after seeing the name on the door but his attitude quickly changed when he realized that there was more to the uneasy feeling that he all this time besides Parizi being secretive.

"Um... I'm not sure what you're doing here but I'm even less clear on why you brought me along."

Parizi smiled from ear to ear before responding "This is our big break."

He knocked on the door without waiting for Alex's reaction and once they heard the producers voice, he pulled his boyfriend along when going inside.

"Ah. Yes, yes. I've been waiting for the two of you." Mr. Guilherme, a chubby, balding man in a suit said, noticing them entering the room, although it was clear that he was actually using tweezers to adjust his eyebrows although he tried to cover that up by quickly hiding the mirror he was using for it.

"Alright already! Will someone explain to me what's going on here?" Alex couldn't keep it in any longer.

The producer seemed to be slightly displeased by that as signified by him side-eyeing Parizi while gesturing towards the two chairs in front of his desk "Have a sit. Everything will become clear soon."

"Alright. I'm sitting. What now?" Alex said after taking the man up on his offer, although his reason kicked in and made him calm down since he probably was getting too worked up judging by the atmosphere.

"You should have explained it to him before bringing him here." Guilherme told Parizi.

"I don't mean to offend you sir, but i really think he wouldn't have come along if he knew where we were going and for what reason. I know him well enough."

"So it's something that wouldn't sit well with me?" Alex interjected, his eyes jumping between the two men's faces, trying to analyze their expression even before getting to know anything about the purpose of this meeting.

"I was hoping that I could convince you but..." Parizi stopped talking for a moment, looking like he needed to gather his thoughts "...Well, let's start from the beginning. Remember that book of yours you wanted me to check out?"

"How... Is everything okay? The way you asked that made no sense. Of course I remember it. Also, it's not a book yet since it hasn't been published yet and what's mo..."

"Wait..." Parizi seemed worried about what he wanted to say "...What if it never became a book?"

"What?" Alex was confused by that question and his first thoughts about why his boyfriend would ask it weren't too pleasant "Oh no. You don't mean that it's so bad that there's no way it would be published no matter how much I would change?"

"No, you fool. It's the opposite!" Parizi blurted out "Look around you! Where are you? Who's that sitting in front of us?!"

Alex became so occupied with thoughts concerning his writing that he didn't immediately consider how the place they were in factored into it but once Parizi pointed it out everything started to become clear. Pieces of puzzle fell into place and Alex's mind fell into disarray.

"No!" he shouted while standing up.

Mr. Guilherme was taken aback by this reaction, quite literally in fact since he pulled himself away from the desk.

Alex gave Parizi an angry look, completely ignoring the producer, before he stormed out of the room.

"Damn it!" the blonde student said while scrambling to follow his boyfriend "I swear I'll convince him, Mr. Guilherme!"

. . .

"How about a juice?" Parizi asked while already holding a couple cartons of different juices since despite knowing the brand Alex liked, he could never tell what flavor he was in mood for "Your favorite."

"I will take it..." Alex responded while reaching for the pineapple one "...only because I don't want it to go to waste. If you're really thinking that you're going to cheer me up with something like this after what you just tried to pull. I would of said no either way but how the hell would you come to the conclusion that trying to pressure me by doing this in front of a famous producer was better than just asking me to my face... Actually, you still haven't said it properly."

"Is there a proper way to say it?"

"Yes, there is. Just go "Hey, Alex. Can I shit on your dream"?" he responded in a mocking tone before taking his first sip of the juice.

"You acting this way is exactly the reason I didn't just want to ask you. No one else would see it as something bad!"

"I'm not "no one". I'm me. I would have no problem with my work becoming a movie... eventually... somewhere down the line, but I didn't write a movie. I wrote what's supposed to be a book. How did this even happen? I asked you for help, you agreed and then went on to do something completely different."

"I'm trying do what's best for us!"

"For "us"?! It doesn't look that way! You're just doing what you want and completely ignoring me!"

Parizi noticed that they were attracting attention of passersby so he tried to calm down Alex "Could you not make a scene?"

"No! I've never been this angry at you and you still don't seem to get that you should be regretting what you did!"

"I don't regret it!" the blonde man shouted louder than either of them did before.

His breathing started to get heavy and sweat was dripping down his forehead which showed that he was maybe even more worked up about the situation than his boyfriend.

"Why are you wasting this chance?! Is it some dumb sense of pride?! Are you really that adamant about getting published that you'd rather stay a poor fool than use this opportunity to get rich?!"

"What about you?! Wouldn't you care if someone tried to destroy a dream movie you made?!"

"No! Because i don't have one! What are you on about?! No matter how much I enjoy filmmaking what will always take priority is money! If I can get rich thanks to this then I don't care about anything else!" his face started to look more deranged as he tore down the image of him that existed in Alex's heart.

Slap. A quick, sharp one, delivered to Parizi's chick. He was so blinded by the thoughts of becoming rich that he didn't see it coming and even after receiving it he needed some time to process what happened before he started to notice the pain in his cheek.

"If you're so obsessed with becoming rich then go do it. But you're not going to do that with my work. I want no part of this... and after seeing your other side I also don't want anything to do with you. Wait here for an hour or go crawling back to that office but unless you want me to hit you again don't come anywhere near our apartment for now. I'm going to pack up my things."

. . .

Alex managed to find a new place to live. It was a small flat but after breaking up with Parizi he lost a little of his faith in people and felt the need to live alone as he tried to further improve his manuscript. It was around 2 months later when he was spending time with a bunch of other students, reluctantly allowing one of them to see what he wrote, when something even worse happened.

"So? What do you think?" Alex asked anxiously, his biggest worry being that he maybe changed the story too much just to make it different from the version Parizi tried to make into a movie.

"I don't want to be mean but... You're old enough to know not do stuff like this. No one will publish fanfiction. Unless you've got yourself a deal and this is the official novelization? But then you wouldn't be allowed to show it to me, would you?"

"I... What? You're not making any sense."

"Are you trying to be funny? I don't know about the story itself but title, the names and the premise... It's all taken from that movie they're working on right now at..."

"Stop!" Alex shouted while grabbing the other person's arms "What are you talking about?!"

"Yeah. I knew I heard the title somewhere." another student noted "He's talking about it."

Alex looked at the phone that was held out towards him and he witnessed what looked like an announcement of a new movie by Mr. Guilherme. The article which showcased it noted that it was weird to announce the premise of the movie and names of the characters without having any actors or a release date.

"Those bastards!" Alex said while stopping himself from punching the phone which contained an image of Guilherme's face "Sorry. I need to go!:

He took the manuscript and started running as fast as he could. Even though it was far away, his rage didn't drop even a bit on his way to the building housing the producer's office. He tried to get inside but it didn't seem like he could enter without using the Entryphone. The voice that answered him belonged to a female that served as the link between visitors and the producers. After seeing which one Alex wanted to visit, she immediately checked the list but since he wasn't on it there was nothing she could do besides asking him to come back in four months.

"Fou... Are you insane?! It'll be too late!"

"Please stop yelling, sir. Leave now or I'll inform the security."

"There'll be no need for that." both Alex and the woman were surprised to hear Guilherme's voice.

The student turned around and saw the producer with two guards next to him. Parizi was also there, standing in the back, chewing a gum and seemingly avoiding eye contact with his ex-boyfriend.

"Look what the Meowth dragged in. I'm sorry boy but you passed up your opportunity at fame and wealth. There's nothing here for you." the balding man said in a mocking voice.

"You won't get away with this! I'll reveal that you plagiarized my work and..."

"You can't." Parizi surprisingly spoke up "You know what's copyright? The thing you created now belongs to us and there's no way you'll be able to convince anyone otherwise. You'll only make a fool out of yourself if you try to. Well... a bigger fool than you already are."

"You...!" Alex tried to get to Parizi but one of the guards blocked his way before looking at his boss who gave him a nod of approval.

That was the sign that the producer was okay with his men using force to stop Alex. The camera pointed at the building already recorded what looked like him trying to attack them so even if someone wanted to complain about him getting beat up there was proof that he was the one who instigated the fight. Two punches from the guard, one to the jaw and another to the abdomen, were enough to make the student regret coming there. The group passed him by and went inside the building.

. . .

In the following months, Alex tried different approaches at trying to get back what belonged to him. Him trying to convince people through internet made others believe that he was either jealous or seeking attention. Even the person he showed his manuscript to didn't want to listen to his explanation and soon his friends started to avoid him. He was so focused on getting justice that he started missing lessons. Attendance wasn't a problem but without learning the necessary things he barely managed to pass the tests that allowed him to continue his studies. He asked around about Parizi, hoping that he could catch him alone but it seemed like he dropped out. Either way, Alex wouldn't know what to do once he found him. He never fought anyone but the way he acted last time they met had him worried that he could go too far if he did encounter him. The movie was set to release in the summer, with many famous actors amongst the cast. Alex felt helpless enough that he didn't know what to do anymore and just kept on waiting for it to come out.

. . .

"This is wrong! They changed this part completely! What the hell do they think...?!"

"Sir! We received complaints about you. Please lower your voice or we'll have you leave the theater."

Alex stopped yelling and looked at a member of staff who watched him with a concerned expression and only then did he realize how loud he was. Noticing angry stares from other moviegoers he decided to leave of his own accord.

"I lost. I don't have anything. No friends, barely any money and I'm lucky that I didn't flunk out. Meanwhile Parizi became famous. He's probably swimming in cash and laughing at me. Or not. With how big he's become, he probably completely forgot about me." these were the thoughts on Alex's mind as he approached his flat.

He turned the key and opened the door but something immediately caught his attention. He almost stepped on an envelope someone must have pushed through the crack beneath the door. He picked it up and went to the kitchen in order to use a knife to open it carefully. Although he never used his real name while on the internet he still feared a little that someone may have found out who he was and where he lived. His first thought was that whatever was inside was supposed to bring him harm.

"A USB stick?" he said while making sure that it was the only thing inside.

He took some time ponder whether he should see what it contains but there wasn't really anything he cared enough about anymore. Even if it contained a virus or something there could be nothing he would do about it nor would he try to. He put it into the computer and saw that it had only one audio file on it.

"Don't turn this off!" Parizi's voice yelled at him immediately, although hearing his voice was enough for Alex to consider doing exactly what his ex-boyfriend didn't want him to.

He paused the file and looked at how long it was "I'll probably feel worse than if someone sent me a bomb but it's short... Damn it... I'll try..."

"I realize that you don't want to hear my voice so I'll try to be fast. You may think me a coward for not wanting to show my face but that's fine. I tried acting though when we met these couple months ago but despite how shitty I treated you... I never actually abandoned my feelings toward you. That doesn't matter anymore. I know you won't forgive me and I should probably try to move on too... but I feel that you won't be able to move on yourself, in a different way. You don't value money the same way I do but this is the only thing I could think of. Check your account. I sent you 100.000 gold. If... If that's not good enough, I'll send you more when I make my next movie... and the next one after that and... Ugh. Just text me. You know my nu..."

Alex closed the file before Parizi could finish sitting and just sat there in silence for some time. He opened his phone to check his account since it would be faster than doing it through the computer. It seemed like his ex was speaking the truth. He stood up and stretched his arms and neck a little. He reached towards the back of his monitor and unplugged any cables that would interrupt his next move. He lifted it over his head and through it towards a wall that was close enough where it would reach but far enough where he wasn't in danger of any shards hitting him.

"That f #$ asshole!"

He walked around the room for a while, trying to come up with what he was supposed to do. Even though his first thought was to send the money back he also considered the ways he could use it to help him get revenge.

"I was almost ready to give up and maybe I would get over it somewhere down the line but he had the gall to pull a move like these. He knows this doesn't make things okay yet he's prepared to send me more money with every new movie, each time reminding me of the time he f #$ me over... Wait... Now that I think about it... My manuscript being good was only half the reason for him stealing it. The other part was him not being able to create a story that would make a good movie by himself. He said that he had nothing else to do. If he didn't take my work he maybe would never be able to get Guilherme to produce this and that means he can't repeat the success of this movie without imitating my style... I thought he was completely blinded by money but what he did means that he must have begun to rethink everything. Will he realize what he got himself into?" Alex noticed not only that he was saying all of this instead of thinking it but also that he sounded like he was worried at Parizi "No. He doesn't deserve my pity. If he's going to crash and burn then I'll gladly watch him do it. That leaves Guilherme. I know I can use this money to get back at him somehow. I can't do it alone but hiring someone to beat him up would make no sense. I don't know how good his guards are or even where I would find someone who would work for me. There has to be a different way. It'll probably take some time before I can come up with... Hmm? What's that sound?"

Hearing some noise coming from outside through the slightly open window, he decided to check the origin of the sounds. He looked down into the alley his window pointed towards but at first couldn't see anything since it was already the evening. He still could hear it and something in his mind made him think that waiting to find out what was going would be better than just closing the window. After a while, the ones responsible for the ruckus came into the light cast by the only lamp post in the alley. It turned out that it was an Eevee fighting against a Raticate for some scraps.

"This is it! That's how I'll do it!" he raised his voice in excitement, drawing the dog's attention and allowing the rat to deliver the finishing blow before it could run away with the food.

Having realized that he was the one responsible for Eevee's loss, Alex made his way downstairs as fast as he could in order to check if it was alright.

. . .

"I wonder if he even listened to the message." even though he was in the middle of a luxurious dinner with Guilherme and some other important people, Parizi's thoughts still wandered towards Alex.

"Is the food not to your liking?" an actress playing one of the main roles in the movie caused him to come back to reality, while chuckling about how bewildered he looked.

"He's probably not accustomed to fine dining." someone else commented, making Parizi wonder if he should interpret the words as an insult "Don't worry. As long as you keep on writing movies as good as this one... Well, I played in it but I didn't watch it. The critics definitely like it. What i was saying was that if you keep this up, you'll eat it at places like this more often and you'll get used after some time."

"Are you working on something else right now?" a third person asked.

"N-no." Parizi answered, sure that Guilherme was observing his every move as if he was worried that he would suddenly reveal the truth about the movie "I'm sure I'll be able to write something as great as this."

Betraying Alex was a lot easier because his ex didn't learn about what he did until months later but trying to lie to a group of people he idolized in the past made him more stressed out than he's ever been.

"I wonder if it will get nominated for the Grand Movie Awards." the woman pondered.

"I'm sure you yourself will get an award either way." said the second person.

After that most of the group started laughing. Parizi didn't understand what was funny about that.

. . .

Months later, the day of the Grand Movie Awards arrived and Mr. Guilherme together with Parizi and the main cast of the movie attended the ceremony. Even though the young man struggled to come up with something that could be a good follow up to Alex's creation, he still couldn't make anything he would be satisfied with so he didn't even bother discussing his ideas with Guilherme.

"I don't feel good about this." he said to himself, knowing that the main award would be announced soon.

The movie already received three different awards that evening so winning the title of the Best Picture was definitely possible. Knowing that they weren't included in the category for the Best Adapted Screenplay made him feel even worse. He was so excited about creating a movie a year ago but with each passing day his enthusiasm lessened. While other people were having fun or praying to win an award, he kept thinking about what Alex was doing at the time. After not hearing anything about him for a long time he even had someone check up on his ex a couple times just to be sure that what he did didn't drive Alex to suicide.

. . .

In another part of the audience there was a duo of people who actually had no part in creating any movies that were nominated for award.

"I don't mean to sound rude but why are we here?" one of them, a woman, asked while adjusting her glasses and glancing around, hoping that they weren't drawing attention by standing out.

"You're too cautious. You should know by now that I can remain hidden even in the brightest light. We're here because even I like to enjoy myself from time to time. I'm not talking about watching the ceremony. It's observing people that gives me pleasure and everyone, especially trying to figure who dislikes whom and if someone is jealous of someone else. Well, that's why I'm here. You're here because me sitting alone would draw more attention."

Resse felt like her bosses comment should have calmed her down but she still was paranoid about someone recognizing him. Meanwhile, Giovanni took a sip of wine while observing someone from a nearby table sweating a little as they waited for the next announcement with an expression that showed that they weren't too confident about whether they would win this particular award.

"Laughing would be too much but seeing someone worry so much about something so meaningless. I hope they will be grateful once they won't have to worry about awards anymore." the boss of Team Rocket thought to himself while switching his attention to another table.

. . .

After Guilhereme's movie received a bunch of other awards, it was finally time for the most important one of them all. The audience went quiet in anticipation as the person on stage opened the envelope containing the title of the movie which would receive the Best Picture.

"And the winner is..."

"We won." Parizi managed to say before everyone at the table started exploding with excitement.

People were saying various things to him but the added noise of the audience cheering for them made it hard to hear anything. All of it was so overwhelming that he didn't immediately remember that they were supposed to go on stage in order to accept the golden statue that signified their victory. Someone pulled on his arm and he followed, but the fact that he didn't want to be up there made him feel like he was an animal led to be slaughtered by the butcher.

"Before I let our writer and co-director, Parizi say his thing, I'd like to get a few words in. I hope that no one minds." Guilherme said while walking up to the microphone after taking the statue from the announcer's hands "It's just so exciting. While you mostly know me as a producer of many successful movie, you've probably heard about the few movies I tried to direct in the past. None of them did too well but once I got the screenplay for this one..."

The man stopped, acting like he was about to cry, making even Parizi unsure whether he was pretending or actually overwhelmed.

"... I knew it would be a thing of beauty." the producer continued "This is the first movie where I was a director that managed to do so well and there's so many people I would like to thank. All of the people who went to see the movie, the amazing cast, our hardworking crew but most importantly... There's someone I would like to call out."

"Call out?" someone from the cast whispered.

"Maybe he meant "shout out"?" another person wondered.

"Parizi!" Guilherme raised his voice while dramatically pointing at the young man "You didn't write this movie!"

Everyone went completely silent for a couple seconds needed to process what Guilherme just announced. Audience quickly started discussing what they just heard but everyone on the stage still kept quiet, probably expecting an explanation before making any judgements regarding Parizi. The man himself was the one most surprised. He was thinking about maybe trying to reveal the truth himself but there was no point in the producer throwing him under the bus. Him and Alex reaching some sort of agreement wasn't a possibility so this sudden turn of events seemed completely random.

"The one who wrote this movie is actually with us. I'm sure everyone here would like to meet him. Come on stage!" Guilherme said while motioning towards the crowd.

A man stood up from a smaller table he occupied by himself and made his way towards the stage. He wasn't Alex and what's more he wasn't anyone that Parizi recognized. Guilherme glanced towards him in order to see his reaction. He was overjoyed at seeing him completely clueless. With how he's been acting for some time, there was a chance that he would try to sabotage the ceremony by revealing the truth. Seeing as he wasn't able to come up with any idea for a movie by himself, Guilherme decided that there wasn't a reason not to betray him preemptively. After that, even if Parizi tried to make a statement, no one would believe him.

"Hmm? His clothes seem kinda loose. They were tailored to fit him so what's up with that?" the producer thought to himself after getting a closer look at his mysterious accomplice.

The man moved past him and approached the microphone stand.

"How are you doing, everyone? Read any good books recently? Definitely nothing I wrote. But, wow... I mean... wow! This sure has been an exciting evening, hasn't it? Many surprising wins, that's for sure."

"What the hell is this ad-lib? We went over it several times." Guilherme started to get angry but he couldn't say any of his thoughts or even move towards the man without seeming suspicious.

"Truth be told, I'm not too happy about the movie receiving such a prestigious award. My vision was rather butchered and even though they some good actors to play the main characters I still think that the changes they made resulted in a shitshow that doesn't convey what I wanted it to."

He looked around and saw many concerned faces which brought a smile to his face.

"I see that you're surprised. Well, think about it. Since the idea was stolen I had no influence on what the final product would be like. Let me just clear something up... Or maybe this will confuse you even further?"

Guilherme didn't know what was happening but he somehow felt that he couldn't let it go on any longer. Parizi instinctively grabbed the producer's wrist, stopping him from moving for the short while needed for the mysterious man to finish talking.

"This was never supposed to be a movie. I wrote a book and I'm rather disappointed that you weren't able to read this because my manuscript was stolen. Two misunderstandings though. Firstly, Parizi wasn't the only one who stole it. Guilherme helped him and made sure that I wouldn't be able to do anything about it. Secondly, it wasn't stolen from me..." while speaking, the man's face started to change before revealing that it was a transformed Ditto that covered his face "...but from me."

While his identity remained unknown to most, since he was wearing a carnival mask around his eyes even below the fake face, there were two people there who immediately recognized Alex's face.

"Y-you!" Guilherme shouted while managing to get free from Parizi's grasp, not realizing that he was giving Alex exactly the kind of reaction he wanted.

While a lot of people were still confused by the constant surprises, some started to consider that what the young man said could be the truth.

"Not only did you still my manuscript but you also told two different lies concerning who wrote it! I kept calm since I wanted everyone to listen but I'm done being nice you piece of shit. Go, Jolteon!" Alex detached the microphone from the stand in order to deliver these words.

After the Electric Pokemon was summoned, everyone besides Guilherme quickly moved away from the center of the stage. The producer saw that and yet somehow his instinct was to move backwards rather than to try blending into the crowd.

"Pin Missile!"

Jolteon shot out a bunch of her spiky hair at Guilherme who couldn't do anything besides trying to cover his face and crotch. The attack still hit him, cutting through his clothes and drawing blood. Most of the spikes only grazed him but one pierced his body directly, getting stuck in his belly and making him cry out in pain as he fell to his knees.

"I'm sorry to do this to you but this will be the best punishment..." Alex addressed Jolteon "...Thunder Fang where it hurts the most!"

The producer was in so much pain that he was more concerned about pulling out the spikes, leaving his crotch unprotected. Seeing what was going to happen, a lot of people closed their eyes or turned away their heads. Guilherme didn't even make a sound. He passed out from the overdose of pain, not even realizing that any sex life he had was completely doomed.

Alex looked around. It took a while but the security finally got on stage, although seeing the blood dripping from Jolteon's mouth made all of them hesitant about doing anything.

"We're getting out of here! Let's do this, Ditto!" Alex shouted and the Pokemon immediately reacted by transforming into Jolteon before the two of them sent some warning shots of Pin Missile in the direction of anyone who seemed like they wanted to try anything.

He gave Parizi one last look. This made two things clear to his ex-boyfriend. The first one was that Alex didn't consider him worth his time. The second was that this was the last time they would ever meet.

Running away wasn't too hard since the security didn't want to pursue Alex in fear of him taking someone hostage or them accidentally hurting someone while trying to catch him.

. . .

"That definitely wasn't what I was expecting." Resse said to her boss who made the decision to leave the award ceremony soon after Alex pulled his stunt since he felt that most people would soon try to leave anyway and he wouldn't like to shove through a crowd.

"I want him."

"What?"

"We need to find out who that man was and make him a part of Team Rocket."

"You saw what he did, right? He made his Pokemon bite a man's..."

"I don't care." Giovanni responded while giving her a stern look "He reminds me of that man. Even though everything I'm doing was influenced by what happened back then, I still have trouble adjusting myself to predicting what others want. Even though you doubt me from time to time I feel that you would never try to disobey me without saying it to my face. While we're not sure about the details, we know that he was played by these other men. He's not going to trust anyone easily. Having someone who's not only a strong trainer, but also has a strong personality, will help keeping me in check. He probably won't listen if I just say something like "I want to get rid of things you hate" so I will have to think about a good way to convince him. In the meantime, you're the organize our people and find out who he is."

"Yes, Sir."

. . .

A couple years later, sometime after escaping the laboratory on Cinnabar, Alex and the rest of his group reached their boat and started escaping towards the island where Blaine's house was situated. Most of them were confused about what they just did. It didn't seem like the Admin actually stole anything but they were too afraid to ask what happened.

The man himself was sitting as far from everyone as he could, at the back of the boat. Green and Mary shortly joined him. He judged from their faces that they wanted some kind of answer but he wondered if it was better to give them one that would satisfy them or one that would work best for him. They didn't ask any questions yet so he wasn't even sure if they wanted to know about his present or past, even though the way he acted was influenced by the memories that came back to him after he tried to repress them for a long time.

"You know... I wrote a book once. Well... It never got published. I think it could have been popular. Maybe I should start writing again."

Not knowing if what he was talking about was connected in any way to what he wanted to know, Green decided to ignore what Alex just said and ask his question "Why did you decide against stealing the fossils?"

"There was more to be gained by helping Daniel deal with Linhart."

"Like what?" Green raised a brow in surprise.

"Satisfaction." Alex responded in a playful tone.

"That's not..."

"Give it a rest. It's better that we didn't steal it, isn't it? What would be the purpose of you learning?"

"We want to see you happy." Mary said at exactly the same time as Green uttered "I want to know your weakness."

They looked at each other and then back at Alex who started laughing, leaving everyone else on the ship wondering about what happened.

"You know the saying "there's no honor among thieves", right? Let's say that I stole one of your Pokemon. Would you be more angry if I released it into the wild or if I trained it to have it listen to my orders?"

"Probably the second one." Green answered.

"Well then, there you have it."

Green tried to decipher what Alex wanted to achieve by asking him this question. He thought back on everything that happened that day and felt like he reached the truth.

"Are you really going to start writing a book?"

"Maybe... You interested?"

"While not travelling or training Pokemon, reading was the way I would pass time. I think there are some ways I could help you."

"Hmm. That would be nice..." Alex said while looking into the distance "...to try and trust someone again."

It looked like the conversation was over but Green and Mary both decided to stay, sitting there with Alex and looking at the night sky.

* * *

It took almost 4 weeks but this chapter is finally here. Truth be told, I spent like 2 of these weeks playing Smash and Fire Emblem but I also had some time off work so I spent some time with family and even went to the biggest amusement park we have in my country so I wasn't really thinking about writing too much until a week ago when I finally got to it.

This in like top 5 longest chapters. While I initially wanted Alex's story to be just part of the chapter while the rest would be what's now will be known as chapter 40, when I realized that it would come out longer I decided to go all in, adding scenes that would flesh out both him and Parizi. I don't really want to talk about the contents of the chapter. If you don't care about Alex's past, you won't want to hear it but even if you were interested in his past there's enough stuff in there that you should be able to tell how you feel about it without me trying to guide you by pointing out what I wanted. I probably will never be able to write something truly deep but compared to stuff like Red's backstory, you can see that there is much more to Alex. If everything goes alright then in some time you'll also get a better understanding of the remaining main characters.

I still would like to talk about something though. What? No, not about Bede(although we finally got a good male design for the new games). I got a review at the beginning of the month. It wasn't from a user and it wasn't positive but I get them so rarely that I decided to leave it, even though the site was giving me the option to get rid of it before it would get published. I answered a review, this one from a user and I didn't like how my answer was private instead of public. It's better if I try to answer here and with a guest comment that's actually my only option so let's do this.

To be honest, I couldn't stop laughing while reading it. The fact that I would unintentionally make some stranger so mad at my writing made me really... excited... I guess? The funniest thing is that it looks like it's written by someone who read the whole story yet seems to have no clue what I'm all about. It's pointless to make any demands of me. You can suggest some stuff and I'll probably think about it as long as it doesn't interfere with my overall plan for the story but outright telling me what I should write will get you nowhere. I mentioned several times that this story won't get erotic yet this review is like "I want Red and Blue to bang". Okay? You know my stance on this, mate. I'm sure there are several stories out there that have exactly what you want.

Another complaint is how Blue doesn't appear enough and that the story is dragging because I write about my OC's. See the list down below? I think it's been pretty obvious for a long time that all of them are main characters. Red gets more focus than the rest but besides that I try to create a living, breathing world. There's already a large cast of characters, each working towards a certain goal, and it's going to stay that way. Some characters will get more focus at times and you won't see other ones for a while but they're still all part of the story and the world.

Next time, for sure, we'll go somewhere else. I'm trying to envision how many chapters are left in this arc and I don't think we'll be done with it this year, mostly because it's the most story heavy arc. That doesn't mean there won't be action. This chapter didn't have a lot of it but you can expect more from the next one. See ya.

Red. Team: Nidorino, Gloom.

Stasis: Eevee, Charmeleon, Gyarados, Raichu, Pidgeotto.

Badges: 4

Green. Team: Jynx, Jigglypuff.

Stasis: Venusaur, Nidorina, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, Horsea.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Weepinbell(Bell), Blastoise(Tori), Zubat(?), Graveler(?).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, Gengar.


	46. 40: Invisible Walls

Recommended Music: The first opening to Saint Seiya Hades Chapter. I've also been listening to a lot of slow 80's japanese songs while writing this but I'm still new to this type of music so I don't remember any particular song names of singers but it's all good.

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 40: Invisible Walls.

"You know... I've been wondering if I should send them any presents... I mean my parents. I can't visit them but I need to do something. Nothing too expensive since that could make them feel like they need to buy me something of equal value and we don't want that... but... something... Yeah... Well, what do you think?"

Weepinbell didn't feel like he was capable of figuring out how Blue should deal with her problem but he also wasn't sure whether she was asking him the question or just talking to herself. He decided it would be best to ignore her and focus on finishing his meal. He needed to be in top shape for the Gym battle his trainer arranged to have that day, and dealing with hunger was part of that. The rest of her Pokemon were also eating with them, although Weepinbell was the only one who preferred to eat at a table, not taking into account the fact that most of them couldn't fit in a chair. He looked at the rest of the team, wondering about the recent addition, a Ponyta that joined them during a visit to the Safari Zone the previous day. He was a little worried about the fact that Zubat was the only one among them who still hasn't evolved and that he could get sad if the new member would overtake him.

"It would be nice if I could spend the Bonding Day together with someone I know. I doubt anyone else managed to defeat the guardian and since I haven't seen Red in this city that means he's either way ahead with collecting badges or that he's just taking a different route. Even that guy whom I owe money to would be fine..." the girl kept talking, allowing her head to be filled with more troubling thoughts which finally made her feel sad enough that she had to lay her head on the table. Not wanting to see her in such a state, Weepinbell decided that him licking her hair would be a good enough distraction. The feeling of his tongue on hair head was so startling and unpleasant that she immediately got up and forgot about her worries. She looked at him with mad eyes before grabbing him and starting to stretch his mouth.

"What was that supposed to be?!"

Seeing that she got over her sadness, Weepinbell couldn't help but smile which made it harder for the girl to hold onto him. The other Pokemon watched this scene with a mix of confusion and embarrassment as various people started looking at Blue's and Bell's fight.

. . .

"I knew I should have checked this properly before coming here. They gave me the address when I called them to arrange the battle but I don't see anything that looks like a Gym anywhere in sight." Blue said to herself while throwing her hands up into air in anger "What's worse there's barely anyone in this part of town. If only I could ask someone for... Hmm. There's someone."

The girl approached the person she saw. It was a man in a suit, sitting in a booth next to an enormous, bronze gate placed inside an equally impressive wall. While walking towards him, Blue tried to see what was behind this barrier but it was so tall that the only thing she could make out was the top of some undoubtedly tall building. It didn't exactly look like a temple so she got curious and decided that beside asking about the location of the Gym she should also inquire about what was behind the wall.

"Excuse me. Could you help me out?"

The man didn't respond for some time, silently observing the girl, making her concerned about whether there was something unpleasant about how she looked that day.

She was about to ask him about it but he finally spoke up "That depends. State your name and business."

"Uhh... B..." she hesitated to introduce herself since the tone of his voice and his word choice made it feel like he was someone she shouldn't even have the right to talk to "...I'm Blue. Business... Um... I used to help on my parents' farm... Does that count?"

"I'm not sure what the latter half of your answer was about but I see that a person called "Blue" does have an appointment with the master. You may proceed." the man stated before pushing a couple buttons in order to open the gate.

The girl was confused about what was going on but the man's unchanging face made her a little worried and she felt it would be easier if she just went with the flow and entered the premises.

"W-what?"

She didn't have time to imagine what the place inside the walls would look like but she didn't expect something that looked like another district of the city. She walked on a gravel path, with rows of leafless trees on each side, for less than half a minute before she reached the first buildings. She counted around 50 buildings, before she stopped counting, as she walked onward without knowing her destination. The thing that made this place different from the rest of Fuchsia City was that every piece of architecture was kept in an ancient eastern style. At least from the outside. There were various people here and there and as she got quick glances into shops when their doors were being opened, she noticed that the insides looked modern. Another thing that grabbed her attention was that it seemed like for every dozen of people she passed there was one that was dressed exactly like the man in the booth outside the walled area.

"At first I thought that I somehow travelled back in time but there's something else going on here. I don't want to ask any of these suit guys for the way but I wonder if the other people know how to reach the Gym." she pondered out loud.

"You!" someone yelled behind her, making her jump up a little as she felt goosebumps on her back.

"Y-yeah?" she asked with a timid voice while turning around to see who it was.

She let out a sigh of relief after realizing that it wasn't one of those suspicious men. It was a female who looked to be about her age. What was however worrisome was how she looked. Her fair face and spiky hair tied into a ponytail weren't anything weird but her clothes were an entirely different matter. Her legs and torso were covered by what looked like a single piece of black material, making Blue wonder how she was able to put it on. The girl wore a pink scarf and a sash in the same color as well as purple guards on her forearms and around her ankles. While all of this already made her stand out, the icing on the cake was the fact that in this cold weather she didn't wear any shoes, just socks, and that the top of her costume didn't have any sleeves and her arms were instead covered by fishnet that seemed to extend to her torso.

"Is there a convention going on or something?" Blue couldn't help but ask.

"Wh... I was about to say something! How dare you interrupt me? And what is that even supposed to mean?" the purple haired girl got visibly and audibly annoyed.

"Have you seen what you're wearing? It's so cold that every other person around here wears a jacket or a coat yet you..." she stopped and motioned towards the girl's clothes, hoping that it would become obvious what she was talking about.

"Cold? Don't make me laugh. I've spent days meditating under waterfalls whose water was so cold that it was a miracle that I wasn't showered by icicles."

"O.. kay? Look... Forget that I asked about that. I have to go."

"Wait." the mysterious girl said as Blue turned around only to find that the she somehow managed to get past her and was now blocking her way.

"Huh? But... What? How did you...?"

"This is a simple matter for someone trained in the ways of shinobi. I can't let you go. Maybe you would eventually reach your destination by yourself but I can't have you wasting my father's time by wandering around without a clue of where you're going."

"That would mean that... your father is the Gym leader, right?"

"I pity you. How can you expect to have any chance in your upcoming battle if you don't even know anything about your enemy? But yes, my father is the leader of the Fuchsia City Gym. His name is Koga. Common courtesy demands that I also introduce myself. My name is Janine."

"Ah... I'm Blue."

The ninja looked at her with a confused expression "I... I know. You... It's better that I don't say anything more lest you take it as an affront. Let me show you the way and once my father defeats you we won't have to worry about it since we won't see each other ever again."

"She acted like she didn't want to insult me yet she did exactly that." Blue thought to herself, trying to hide the fact that she was annoyed by that statement, however still deciding to follow the other girl.

. . .

It soon turned out that the building that Blue noticed from behind the wall was an enormous pagoda, although she didn't know enough about other cultures to know that and Janine had to give her a quick explanation. The inside looked more in line with the outside than what she saw of other buildings but what she didn't know was that it also used modern building techniques and materials that allowed it to be one of the tallest and widest pagodas in the known world. While Blue enjoyed the design of the building, she wasn't exactly thrilled about having to climb several sets of stairs before reaching the floor where Koga was waiting for her arrival. When Janine finally told her that they reached their destination, Blue had to focus not to fall to her knees. The shinobi opened the sliding doors leading to a spacious room before stepping to the side.

"From here you must proceed alone. I shouldn't be saying this but I already feel sorry for you so here's a tip; "Don't hit your head"."

"What?" Blue was clueless about what the other girl meant but a little afraid to proceed since it felt like something bad was waiting for her.

To her surprise, after taking her first steps into the room she found out that it was almost completely empty and the entire floor was covered with what looked like square. She noticed the person that must have been the Gym leader, sitting on his knees on the other side of the room. He was a middle-aged man with spiky, dark teal hair, a pointy nose and light wrinkles around his mouth. He was dressed in a similar fashion to his daughter but where her costumes had bits that were purple or pink his used the color red. His costume looked like it was made of two separate parts, the upper resembling a gi although with rather short sleeves.

"Is he sleeping? No. Probably meditating or something." Blue wondered while observing the man and the wall behind him which had a couple scrolls hanging from it although in a language that she didn't understand "And what did Janine mean? Is something going to fall and hit me in the head? This place is the weirdest Gym I've been to so far."

There was already a lot of things she was worried about so adding new ones didn't seem like such a good idea. She made the decision to focus and approach Koga. A second later she felt sudden pain and fell down on the floor. Never before did she walk into a wall but she imagined that this must have been what it felt like. She massaged her nose and forehead, which took the brunt, before slowly getting back on her feet and trying to figure out what was going. She reached forward and felt something. It wasn't like any type of glass she saw since she couldn't see traces of anything even after touching it with her fingertips but there wasn't denying that what she hit was some kind of invisible obstacle. She got to understand what Janine's warning meant and immediately started trying to figure out how to deal with this situation. She trusted her intuition that convinced her that it was a simple wall and she wouldn't accidentally cut herself on an invisible spike, or something like that, if she tried to find her way by keeping her hand on it. She kept on walking and found out that this wasn't the only wall. She had to turn a couple times and sometimes even backtrack after reaching a dead end. It wasn't clear how it was possible but it seemed like most of the room was a labyrinth. Blue wondered if it was supposed to discourage impatient people from trying to reach the Gym leader. Whether she was right or not, she didn't intend on backing away, especially not after having to climb all those stairs and hurting her face.

"Alright." she said after finally arriving directly in front of Koga and making sure that they weren't separated by waving a hand above him "Can we finally start our fight?"

"Disappointing."

"Wh... Huh?"

"You'll come to find that I'm unlike any other person you might have faced before. You called my people, to arrange our battle, a day ago. This gave me enough time to research you and your Pokemon. What I learned led me to believe that you might be an interesting opponent but you have already let me down before our battle even begun by dealing with the invisible maze in such an inefficient way."

After delivering his speech, the leader stood up and opened his eyes which made the girl feel uneasy. Her instinct was to look back, as if another way to deal with the labyrinth would come to her the moment she saw the rest of the room, but she stopped herself and made a determined expression that was meant to convince Koga that she wasn't rattled by what he said.

"But I did get through it. Are you going to refuse to battle me just because I didn't meet your expectations?"

"Don't worry. I'll allow you to show me your skills. Or rather... worry." Koga paused for a while and stared into her eyes "I'm only giving you one chance."

"What?"

"If you lose this test, I won't allow you to face me ever again. Thus, it won't matter how many other leaders you've beaten or are yet to fight since without getting the Soul badge you won't be able to participate in the Pokemon League. Of course there are other ways but... There's no point in even mentioning them to you."

"You... Can he do that?" Blue turned around hoping that Janine would still be outside the room but it seemed like she already left.

"I can." Koga answered the question "I'm a busy man and this world is going to get a lot busier soon so I don't want to waste my time by having to fight someone whom I once defeated. If you're not coming to fight me with your best then you've already disrespected me and if you are serious and still lose the fight then I don't expect that you'll ever get good enough to beat me in a rematch. There are some exceptions but since I've already been disappointed by you, you don't qualify as one."

The leader paused and thought about something before adding "The funny thing is that judging by your reaction you were worried about only having one chance. Did you expect to lose before our battle even begun or did you plan to see my abilities and prepare yourself to fare better next time? Well, it doesn't matter. As for the rules of the battle, we'll both be using three Pokemon. You can switch them out at any time but I can't switch a Pokemon until it defeats at least one of yours. If you leave this room at any point during the fight then you've lost. Is everything clear?"

"Uhh... Yeah." she responded although the rules confused her a little.

"It's clear that he plans to use the battlefield to his advantage. But having already made my way through the maze I remember parts of it. Unless his Pokemon gets too far away then we won't have a problem. That's only under the assumption that he's going to focus on defense and not on attacking." she thought as she touched each of her pokeball, trying to pick the best choice under these circumstances.

"Go, Dasher!" the girl summoned her Ponyta.

A faint smile appeared on Koga's face since. He wasn't sure if this Pokemon was an ace up her sleeve or if she just caught it in the time between her call and this moment but it was clear that her picking it from the start was done to throw him off. It worked for a short while but the leader quickly came up with a way to deal with this surprise.

"Forest! Go forth, Weezing!"

A purple, two-headed monster appeared in front of the leader. Although it looked somewhat sick, especially since it was constantly surrounded by little clouds of smoke its body was producing, Blue knew not to underestimate it. Not only did she meet it's lower form, Koffing, in the past, but she also was sure that Koga wouldn't use any weak Pokemon after everything he said. She was curious about why he said "forest" before releasing it but she didn't want to let that distract her. It was important to strike first so that their opponents wouldn't have a chance to take advantage of the battlefield.

"Flame Charge!"

"Thunderbolt!"

The Ponyta enveloped itself in fire but as soon as he started running at its foe, he had to slow down and jump to the side. Blue noticed that the attack was suspicious. It didn't seem like Weezing was aiming at her Pokemon but rather that it wanted to strike the floor right in front of him in order to make him swerve. It didn't take long to figure out why. It turned out that Dasher was right next to one of the invisible walls and he hit in at an angle that made him completely stop. Confused about what happened, he allowed his flames to go out which convinced Blue that Koga planned it that way so his Pokemon could immediately follow up with another attack. She was about to give an order to counter-attack but decided not to after seeing that Weezing wasn't advancing. More than that, it looked it was slowly floating backwards.

"It's obviously a trap but I don't know if it doesn't have a way of attacking even when hidden behind a wall. On the other hand, Dasher has to keep close to the enemy in order to defeat it." the girl thought while glancing at the leader's face, hoping to see some reaction that would clue her in on how he wanted to proceed.

"Run after it, Dasher!" Blue ordered while keeping her eyes fixed on Weezing in order to know the path it took "Turn left... now!"

"Good." stated Koga "Thunderbolt Surprise!"

This time Blue was prepared "Slightly to the right!"

The Ponyta bumped against the wall since there wasn't enough room between it and the place where Weezing's attack struck but at leas this time it was able to continue running. Unfortunately, Blue didn't take into account everything that the leader said. While Weezing's bigger head focused on using the electric attack, the other one took care of the surprise part. It spat out a purple, poisonous blob which landed a little closer to it than where it aimed Thunderbolt. As soon as Dasher avoided the attack, he ran into the trap and his great speed made it impossible to avoid slipping on the sludge and falling chin first onto the floor. Once again, Blue was prepared for the worst but Weezing didn't continue its attack and started slowly retreating.

"Is that any way to fight?!" the girl angrily asked the leader.

"What do you mean by that?"

"Your Pokemon had a chance to continue its attack! You could have won right there! Are you trying to make a fool out of me?!"

"Make a fool out of you, you say? You're handling that perfectly fine on your own. What I'm doing is a favor for you. Once you see how easily I can handle your Pokemon, you'll be free of any delusions that you could have ever hoped to rival me. Instead of rushing in with a follow-up attack like a rash beginner, I'd rather win this bout with my Pokemon taking no damage."

"That's just petty! I won't allow myself to be humiliated in such a way... I have to do this fo... Ughh."

"My first impression of her was right." the leader thought "She's distracted by something. I take time to meditate before each battle with a challenger in order to show them respect by fighting them while completely free of any thoughts beside victory, yet she... No. Forget it. There's no reason to cloud my mind thinking about her worries when she's already doing that."

"Dasher, can you get up?!"

The fire Pokemon struggled a little but after finally getting up, he made sure to raise his head and straighten his back in order to show that he wasn't bothered by what happened, even if that wasn't how he actually felt.

"We'll be able to avoid further tricks once you're fast enough to dodge them! Use Agility and then another Flame Charge!"

The horse started once again advancing towards the opponent, increasing his speed as he ran while also setting himself ablaze.

Koga knew that his Pokemon already made three turns after making his foe fall down so the leader wondered if besides the idea to increase Ponyta's speed, the girl had a plan in order to find a way through the maze.

"Use Fire Spin!"

"Fire Spin?" the leader repeated in his mind while unconsciously glancing at the girl for a short time before once again turning his eyes towards the battlefield.

It turned out that this was exactly the thing Blue needed in order to direct her Pokemon through the labyrinth. Because of the way the flames spiraled out of Dasher's mouth, the further they went the more they spread out to the point of grazing the walls. Even if there were no marks left on them, it was still possible to tell for a fraction of a second which places were hit and where the flames were allowed to freely expand. The latter was their goal. After spotting the right spots, Blue was able to give Dasher orders which allowed to him to reach Weezing even though the Poison Pokemon didn't stop for a second. Koga felt like praising the girl's ability to give the commands in exactly the right moments for her Pokemon to avoid hurting itself while making the turns at great speeds but another look at her face made him reconsider that. The determination he felt from her was certainly admirable but besides that her face also showed a mix of anger and sadness. It wasn't that she was able to calculate her Pokemon's movement to a millisecond. Her decisions were purely instinctive and each order was one that could actually end in her Pokemon crashing and losing the ability to continue the battle.

"That's a little sc... No. I have to keep focus." Koga caught himself on once again allowing his thoughts to drift even if only for a second, although he was more worried knowing what kind of emotion the girl was able to stir up in him.

"Take it Down!" Blue ordered once Dasher reached a point where she thought there were no obstacles in his way.

"Double Team!"

Although the Fire Pokemon was finally able to reach the opponent with his attack, it turned out that this one was a decoy. The Ponyta slowed downed before hitting another wall and started looking around in order to find out which Weezing was the real one. There was no way for the Poison Pokemon to create a copy if a wall was in the way so there wasn't too many targets but time played an important role. Since Weezing kept on avoiding the fight Blue's mind immediately locked itself into thinking that this time the poisonous monster must have done the same. Looking at her, Koga realized that she was focusing on trying to find the right one.

"There are also people like that. I can't always expect the same reaction when lying but... I wanted her to give her best. Meanwhile, she's losing herself. Otherwise she would be able to predict that this is the perfect moment for me to switch up my tactic."

"Do it now!" the leader shouted, after giving the girl enough time to try and figure out his plan.

Dasher couldn't tell what happened. Suddenly he was upside down, flying through the air. In his confusion he managed to catch a glimpse of a Weezing that instead of levitating around him or trying to escape, was rolling on the floor with speed that one wouldn't expect from a Pokemon like him. It was clearly the real one and also the one responsible for the horse's current predicament. What's worse, it didn't look like it was going to stop there. After rolling on the floor for some time, Weezing turned around and used Rollout once again, right as Dasher was about to hit his head. The opponent's attack was way worse than landing on the floor. The second Rollout struck at such an angle that the Ponyta was sent into one of the walls without a way to stop himself.

"Dasher!" Blue yelled and took a few steps before reminding herself that she didn't know how to reach her unconscious Pokemon without stumbling through the labyrinth.

"Give the pokeball to him." Koga said while nodding towards Weezing who, after showing off that he could move faster than expected, appeared in front of them in no time.

The girl did as advised and was quickly reunited with her Pokemon when Weezing gave her back the pokeball containing Dasher.

"To deal with that I'll have to..."

"You're speaking."

"Wha-?" Blue slowly turned her head towards Koga.

"You were about to say how you planned to beat my Weezing. Calm down."

"C... Oh. Sorry." even though she was angry, the girl didn't feel like there was any point in getting mad at the leader.

If she lost she wouldn't have anyone to blame but herself. Besides that, even thinking about the possibility of losing was dangerous. This situation was the exact opposite of all the times she fought against the guardian. Back then, she didn't want to allow herself to win thinking that it would be the best way to gather money that she would use to help out her parents but at this moment she couldn't afford to lose because it would mean losing her chance to take part in the Pokemon League and thus letting her parents down. She wanted to wonder what Red would do if he was in her place but since he didn't have any significant reason for wanting to win the League, she could imagine that he would face Koga like any other opponent and wouldn't lose himself in negative thoughts like she did.

"Positive. Stay positive. We can do it... We must do it!" she tried to change her way of thinking while giving a strong slap to both her cheeks.

"I've made up my mind! Go, Ken!" she shouted while throwing the ball which contained her Zubat.

"A Zubat?" the leader asked with a smile "Good. Come back, Weezing."

"What?!"

"Wind! Go forth, Golbat!"

Blue's Pokemon looked a little intimidated while facing his evolved form but he didn't want to let it show so he proudly approached the other Pokemon, flying right above it before stopping on the other side. Meanwhile, the trainer of the smaller Pokemon bit her lip which was a sign of her being annoyed with herself for forgetting the rule that allowed the leader to change his Pokemon after achieving a victory with the previous one.

"Are you ready?" Koga asked after noticing that her confidence seemed to take another hit.

"Yes. We can start." the girl responded after taking in and releasing a deep breath.

"Good." the leader said before turning towards his Pokemon "Go!"

Despite her words, Blue wasn't actually ready to react before learning what her opponent intended to do. Golbat needed to flap its wings but once to travel the distance between the entrance to the maze and the first turn. Observing its movement and using her knowledge from the previous battle, Blue was able to tell that there wasn't enough space for it to spread its wings. That meant that if it wanted to adjust its trajectory, it could only do so after reaching a turn. That could be the clue that would allow her to deal with it.

"Ken, use Acrobatics!" she commanded, knowing that the way her Pokemon moved while using this attack would allow him to go through each turn faster than his opponent and it was clear to her that Koga counted on his Pokemon's speed to win him this battle.

"Hmm? Wait. There's something wrong. But what exactly?" the girl's sharp senses caught that something unusual happened in front of her eyes but the way she was worried about the outcome of the battle prevented her from pinpointing the cause of her new concern "If I can't tell right away then I shouldn't dwell on it. Let's focus on what we can do. Poison Fang will be useless so let's go with this..."

"Use Air Cutter!"

The Zubat was close enough to Golbat to attack by sending spinning blades of air at his opponent.

"Protect!"

Golbat crossed its wings for a second which created a green energy shield that easily blocked the attack.

"And Taunt before flying away!"

The bigger bat looked at the smaller one with a weird glare in its eye which somehow made latter more fervent in his attempts to catch up.

"It's another trap. Once I knew how I wanted to deal with Weezing, he switched to another Pokemon. I have no idea what he's planning but they've already set the pace and are probably well on their way to eliminating Zubat. I can't allow that. This fight isn't for me. I won't be able to face my parents if..."

"Heat Wave!" Koga had no intention to go easy on Blue even though he was able to see that she wasn't observing the battle despite her eyes being directed that way.

Golbat flapped its wings, creating a stream of hot air which sent Zubat flying back into a wall while also dealing considerable damage.

"No! Ken, you have to recover and press on!" Blue ordered after taking notice of what was happening.

Although her Pokemon looked like he was ready to continue the battle, he wasn't advancing towards the opponent. Golbat didn't move from the place which it attacked from so there was no reason for why the Zubat would not be able to see it, except for one that Blue realized while trying to figure out why her partner wasn't moving.

"He can't see. I knew that. But he's not "really blind" since he can locate the opponent us... Unless... That's what was off. That's why he choose Golbat..."

"It seems you found out."

Blue looked at Koga with a shocked face. She wasn't completely sure if she was saying her thoughts out loud or if she was that easy to read. The important part was that she remembered that Ken was able to move around without constantly flying into stuff by using echolocation. It was clear that the same was the case for the leader's Pokemon. She didn't know enough about it to understand the situation exactly but Golbat knew how to move in such a way to slightly disrupt the other bat's ability to "see". She noticed that earlier but was too occupied with thoughts of her parents to understand what was happening. The Heat Wave used by Golbat must have been enough to completely shut off the Zubat's sonar at least for a while. That's why he couldn't do anything after recovering.

"Don't worry, Ken! I will be your e..."

Blue instinctively stopped herself as if she knew even before it happened that a sudden event would make what she was about to say a lie. The lights went out. Although the doors to the room were open, the outside also wasn't illuminated which meant that the girl couldn't see anything until her eyes would adjust to the darkness. If this happened earlier in the battle, she would probably assume that there was a problem with electricity but the timing was too perfect. What's more, she didn't have any rights to complain. Each leader had a different gimmick that gave them the advantage while battling in their Gym. No one ever said that they weren't allowed to have multiple ones or that they couldn't add new ones in the middle of the battle.

"Air Slash!" Koga's order was more sudden and scary because of the surrounding blackness.

Blue knew that there was no way to deal with this problem, not with her and Ken being unable to see the opponent. Her Pokemon was surely getting hurt by blades of air created by Golbat and the helplessness she felt at that moment was overwhelming. Even after what happened with Red and the guardian, she thought that this was the worst she ever felt and could only imagine how much worse it would get once her loss was sealed and she would have to break the news to her parents. After a while the lights turned back on and she could see her Pokemon lying unconscious at her feet, probably brought there by his opponent after the latter's victory.

"Come back, Ken." the girl returned the Zubat to his pokeball and looked at it in silence for a while before putting it away.

Koga observed how she hesitated to reach for another pokeball. She wasn't exactly how he hoped her to be but even under these dire conditions she was able to surprise him by figuring things that a lot of trainers wouldn't be able to. If he handled the situation differently, maybe he would be able to see her perform even better.

"I have my rules. If she gives up before the battle is over then despite what she showed so far she would prove that she wasn't worth my time. Come on, girl. Fight me. As far as you know, this is your last chance. Use it to show me your true abilities." despite wanting to say all these words, the leader kept quiet while waiting to see what Blue would decide.

Blue was lost in her thoughts "Mom, dad. This is over. I can't... But somehow... even more than that... the fact that I won't be able to face Red in the League is... Red... I... If I think I will lose... If I think this all is over... Doesn't that mean that I'm as free as he is? I allowed myself to be relaxed during the time I spent with him but even then every battle I took part in was one where I was completely focused on winning... Or rather, I felt like I couldn't afford to lose. But if I'm sure that there's no chance for me to win... In a way that makes me feel like..."

Blue's saddened face slowly lighted up. She reached towards her belt and hovered her hand above the pokeballs.

"You're too big and you'd have a similar problem to Dasher. That leaves you as the only option, Bell." she said while finally picking a pokeball.

She threw the ball and gave Koga a look that shocked him so much that he almost backed off. Even though he hoped for her to try continuing the fight, he couldn't expect this sudden change in attitude. It was clear that she wasn't doing this because she had hopes of defeating all three of his Pokemon, but the passion in her eyes made it seem like she was prepared to take on anyone.

"I'm going to change my Pokemon." the leader informed the challenger before doing so, partly because he wanted how she would react to it after her feelings seemingly did a 180.

"Go ahead. We're ready." she said while looking at Bell whom she already summoned from his ball.

"Return, Golbat!" Koga called his current Pokemon back before throwing the pokeball with another one "Fire! Go forth, Arbok!"

"Shall we start?" the girl asked with a cheerful voice which somehow made the man feel like maybe she was maybe making fun of him to get back at him for what he did so far but he quickly dismissed these thoughts.

"As I said... Go forth, Arbok!"

The snake slithered on the floor, quickly making its way through the labyrinth. Blue observed its movement in silence so long that Koga became a little worried that the girl maybe was behaving weirdly because she broke under the pressure. He waited for a while but she just kept on following his Pokemon's movements.

"Shall we go?" she asked Bell right as Koga was about to lose patience and question her about how she was feeling.

The Weepinbell responded in a cheerful manner and the two of them went into the maze. Koga was so surprised by her behavior from a couple seconds ago that he didn't immediately catch onto the fact that what she was doing right then was even weirder. Making any guesses about her state would be unsafe so he decided to continue taking her seriously and that meant that he had to assume that there was a purpose to her involving herself in the fight.

"When we began our battle, I was so concerned about losing that I didn't pay mind to the rules Koga explained. His first rule was one that allowed him to switch Pokemon and he used it two times already. He can't switch out Arbok so I don't have to worry about that but the second rule... Normally one wouldn't just leave in the middle of the battle even if they wanted to give up. The only possibility for that would be if the challenger went back through the maze and stepped outside through the entrance. The only way I can interpret that is that he says that to scare people so they don't even think about setting food inside the maze as long as the battle is going on. And that means..."

Blue finished her thoughts out loud "...that being inside somehow increases my chances of victory."

"It seems I was concerned for naught. Her mind is still in the battle." the leader said calmly before turning his attention towards his Pokemon who so far was moving through the labyrinth seemingly aimlessly, waiting for an order "Arbok, use Fire Fang!"

The poisonous Pokemon turned its attention towards the opponents and sped up in order to deliver the attack before they would have time to realize which direction it was coming from. It changed the path it was taking a couple times to make it harder on them, not realizing that the way it moved served as a clue for Blue who didn't stop observing it ever since the battle began.

For her counterattack, Blue decided to take a page from Koga's book "Bell, use Acid on the floor!"

The Grass Pokemon surrounded them with a circle of poison. While it was small enough for the girl to jump over if need be, the snake approaching them at great speed would have trouble avoiding it. When it finally reached them, it slid on it before it could cause any harm. The attack itself didn't hurt too much but a collision with one of the invisible walls was inevitable. After recovering, it glanced towards its trainer.

"Let's try again! This time be more careful!"

Arbok nodded and looked at the floor around it before deciding which path it should take.

"Are his Pokemon really this smart? Golbat has echolocation but the rest of them would have to remember the layout of the room." Blue muttered while kneeling down in order to be as low as the Poison Pokemon "But with the walls being completely invisible, even someone who knows this place is bound to get confused if they are thrown and have to find out which part of the maze they are in..."

While his trainer was busy with her thoughts, Bell was keeping an eye on Arbok who slowed down a little but still looked like it could attack at any moment.

"The logical way to figure out your position would be to look at the four walls of the room and judge the distance but instead Arbok looked down... Is this it?"

Blue noticed something on the floor. She looked at the corner of one of the mats and compared it to another one. She slowly moved her hand and after a while she smiled. She turned around and checked another place in order to confirm her suspicion but she found something even more interesting. After just a couple seconds of mindful exploring she was sure that she had enough knowledge to maneuver the labyrinth as well as Koga's Pokemon, although it would be hard to explain her findings to Bell during the battle so she decided to keep the newly gained knowledge and use it to instruct her Pokemon.

"So it's coming." Blue noted after being nudged by Bell who was patiently waiting for an order "Since Koga likes dressing like a ninja, he will surely appreciate this. Bell, let's give the opponent another target. Use Substitute."

"What is she... Wait! Arbok, use Dragon Tail!"

The command was sudden but right as the snake was getting ready to sink its flaming fangs into the Weepinbell, it spun around and used the tip of its tail, covered in purple energy, to hit its target. To Arbok's surprise, the Grass Pokemon disappeared but another one was waiting behind the copy, ready to launch a counterattack.

"Razor Leaf!" Blue yelled.

Being so close, Arbok had no chance to dodge the leaves and took the full brunt of the attack.

The girl didn't plan on giving it time to rest "And Vine Whip! Grab it and send it flying!"

The Poison Pokemon was a little heavy but Bell gave it his all and was able to throw it into a wall.

Blue glanced towards Koga to see if he was focused on the battle, like she hoped he would be, before biting her thumb.

"Another Razor Leaf!" the girl shouted to further divert attention from what she was about to do, even though she doubted that the leader would be able to tell what she was doing without getting closer.

"I've seen all of her Pokemon's moves and I know it's weakened because of using Substitute. But we've also showed everything that could be useful. Aqua Tail would be pointless and although Mega Drain could help Arbok regain strength, it would be too slow and not as effective as the other two attacks. After Arbok gets up and figures out which way to go we'll try a spinning move that... What is he doing?"

Koga's Pokemon got up after and after noticing that Blue and Bell moved to a different place, it began looking around itself in order to find the way to them. It looked like it was confused about something but the leader couldn't understand what was the problem.

"What are you waiting for?! Go after them!"

The Poison Pokemon started moving but he and his trainer were once again befuddled when they saw the challenger and her Pokemon move through the maze without touching the walls to find their way, as if they knew the layout of this place.

"She figured it out. All the more reason to speed things up. We won't let them use that to their advantage." Koga commented with a proud smirk before once more addressing Arbok "Chase them!"

The snake started following is opponents without realizing that the paths they took were very specific. As it quickly made its way by crawling on the floor, it noticed Bell's Acid left here and there which forced it to move in a specific way in order not to slide on it once again.

"It looks like as if they're trying to lead him somewhere..." Koga was trying to understand Blue's plan "...But there isn't really anything in the maze they could use to help them. Unless she placed something there... But I don't see anything besides those puddles of acid. She's been using them to lead Arbok around but as long as he has the... Of course. She's going back to the place where her Weepinbell used Substitute. It's a trap. But I didn't pay attention to what she was doing then so I don't know which one... If I tell Arbok to avoid that place it will become a stalemate. The only thing I can count on right now is luck."

"This is it, Bell. This is where we make our stand..." Blue said to her Pokemon after reaching the place she wanted "...or rather than stand..."

"Spring up, Arbok! Dragon Tail followed by Fire Fang!"

"...Jump!" Blue finished her sentence.

Both Pokemon leapt off the floor but Arbok was the only one to attack, swinging his tail above his head, making his whole body spin around which would allow him to try to hit the opponent with a follow-up attack if the first move missed. But Bell also being in the air was something unaccounted for and the snake wasn't able to hit his mark with either attack. The way it was placed, it's only way of avoiding a counterattack was to keep moving forward after landing but a glance at the mats in front told it that it was alright to go that way. That was exactly what Blue counted for. The Poison Pokemon was in for a rude awakening. There was a wall where there shouldn't be one. At the speed he was going with, the impact was enough to not only hurt him but also to leave him dazed long enough for Blue to execute the next part of her plan.

"Grab it with Vine Whip so it doesn't get away and fire off Razor Leaf!"

"Get up, Arbok! Those leaves aren't strong enough to defeat you! Use Fire Fang!"

The snake forced himself to bear the pain of being cut by my multiple blades flying at him. The Weepinbell's vine only helped ensure that the opponent wouldn't be able to get out of reach as he sank his fiery fangs into him. Although he had the type advantage, his opponent was so far able to avoid receiving any damage so Arbok decided not to let go no matter what in order to hurt Bell as much as he could even though one of the Grass Pokemon's leafy arms was still free to continue the attack. The result was that after a while both of them ended up passing out.

"So it's a draw. Even with nothing to lose I couldn't manage to get even one win but..." Blue said to herself while kneeling down to put Bell back in his pokeball "...I actually had fun."

She looked at the unconscious Arbok, not sure if she should try bringing him to Koga like his Pokemon did with her defeated ones, but she saw the leader making his way through the maze and waited for him to reach them. He remained quiet while placing his Pokemon in a pokeball but after that he turned to the girl with a slight smile on his face. She wasn't sure what it mean but felt like she should respond in the same way, but still felt a little awkward when doing it.

"I'm surprised... No. That's not it. Hmm... I'm proud? No, no. I'm..." Blue was surprised to see that the leader seemed a little embarrassed "...I'm satisfied. Yes. That's a good way to put it. I'll be looking forward to our next battle."

"Our next battle? I enjoyed it towards the end but since I can't get the badge anymore..."

"What?"

"What?"

"So you really still haven't understood it. You assumed that I wouldn't allow you to face me again just because you lost."

"No, no, no. You said that."

"I was talking about a "test". Not a battle."

"I... What I'm getting from this is that you'll allow me to fight you again. Is that it?"

"Yes. Wha..." Koga couldn't finish since Blue suddenly jumped in to give him a hug.

Her thoughts were so mixed up that she didn't know how to react and her body acted on its own. She quickly let go after realizing that she was making the leader uncomfortable.

"I still don't understand fully what this all was about."

"Hmm. I make sure to investigate each challenger to know if they are anyone of note and I scale the test I give them according to that. You've had to walk a lot of stairs, didn't you? 10 of the floors in this pagoda have battlefields. The first one is just like this one but it's actually a completely empty room. Each next one is more treacherous than the previous. This is the tenth battlefield. Since I had great expectations, I became worried when I saw that you didn't immediately figure out the maze or that you were so easily rattled when you thought this was your only chance. Even though you defeated only one of my Pokemon, you surprised me multiple times during our battle, especially towards the end. That's why I don't mind giving you another chance."

"I just kinda gave up on trying to win and decided to have some fun. By forgetting my worries I was able to focus on the battle and actually figure out how this place works. The fact that the mats have small marks in places where there are no walls, and also that some walls have holes near the floor in order to allow Arbok easier movement."

"I've been wondering about that. You tricked Arbok by placing fake marks on the floor but how did you..."

"Oh, right. I hope that you won't have to throw away the mats because of my blood."

"Blood?" Koga looked at the floor and then at Blue's thumb "You're a reckless one."

"Hmm. That means that Red probably wasn't here yet. I'm sure he would do something similar."

"Red? You mean "that" Red?" Koga looked at her with concern.

"Uuh. I don't know. But there probably aren't many people with that name so maybe it's the same one?"

"What is he to you?"

"He's... a friend. Probably the only friend I have besides my Pokemon."

"I'll have to verify if it's the same person since this is something that's knowledge to only select few..."

"Wait. What is going on?"

"If he turns out to be the same person, I'll have Janine arrange a room for you. Your friend may be in danger and in a way I could be seen as being somewhat responsible for it."

. . .

Later that day, in a completely different place, one of Team Rocket Admins, Angie was lying in wait. She couldn't afford to make any wrong moves. After her underlings gave her information about the location of the headquarters of Darkness Gang, just like she planned, she went on to survey the area in order to figure out the security measures before attacking the place with a larger group of people. After what she saw, she didn't see coming there with a group as an option anymore. It would either have to be a small team of maximum three people or the opposite, as many people as she could bring along.

"Is that really him?" she thought "I have only seen him in photos but... He doesn't even look human anymore. What happened? What did they do to him? He's supposed to be dead but somehow I see this supposedly dead man walking around."

. . .

In another part of the Kanto region, in the Team Rocket base situated in Celadon City, Red and Nets were spending their free time in the impressively big library, the latter explaining a boardgame to the former, when the female librarian suddenly approached them.

"Oh no! Were we too loud?! I'm terribly sorry!" Nets shouted while lowering his head.

"Well... No. You're being too loud right now but it's not about that. I received a message that Doctor Humane wanted to see you. He must have heard that you spend a lot of time here."

"Doctor Humane? Then it must be something important!" Nets raised his voice once again "Sorry, Red but we'll have to leave this for another time! I can't keep the Doctor waiting!"

"Actually, I think he wanted to see both of you." the librarian added.

Nets looked at Red with a confused expression. The other boy mimicked it even though he had inkling of what Blaine could want from him. He helped his friend put the boardgame pieces back in the box before the two of them left.

* * *

50 years have passed. At this point it's useless to try to promise anything. Usually if the chapter takes longer, that means that stuff is happening in my life but I won't bore you with that. Most people will read this some itme after this comes out so they don't need my excuses.

When it comes to story related stuff, it took long because it's like the second longest chapter and also because writing Blue is hard. She's the most developed out of the main characters so each time I write her I have to put in even more effort so that everything regarding her makes sense.

If peopel care about these characters at all, you should be able to see why Blue losing here makes sense even though she defeated the guardian not too long. I just hope that no one assumes that it's somewhat gender related.

This chapter finally introduces Koga after he's been mentioned multiple times in the past. If you don't remember what his role has been so far in the story, check out chapters 16, 23 and 24. I've been reading Marvel comic books from the 70's and they often give adnotations to let you know when a certain event mentioned by the characters took place. I may start doing something like that in these afterwords but with moderation. I never want to point something out if it was supposed to be something for you to figure out on your own. Like the name of this chapter. It seems pretty straightforward but since it doesn't have a pun, you should probably assume that it has another meaning besides the obvious one.

I didn't care for Koga in any type of media but when I was coming up with this story, he somehow managed to become my favorite Kanto Gym leader. Even if he wasn't going all out like in this chapter, I still would say that he's the best Pokemon trainer out of the leaders you've seen battle so far. is pretty strong but he's very single minded. For him it's just attack, attack, attack. Koga is more flexible. If he had to use a team of Pokemon that weren't his, like in the Battle Factory, he would be quicker than any other leader at figuring out how to use them. It's not necessarily that he's the smartest but rather a combination of being a ninja and a Gym leader for many years.

Janine will get a chance to shine too but that's something you'll have to wait for. because holy mother of cliffhangers. Even though like 98% of this chapter is focused on Blue, we have some other developments too. If everything goes how I planned, there will be no way for me to split the next three chapters in to shorter ones no matter how long it takes me to write them. There will be a lot of different things happening but I'm going with a theme. I don't have those chapters planned out but I more or less know what should happen.

Final thing. A quiz! Well, sorta. I just want to see if anyone has a clue where Zubat's name came from(Ponyta's is pretty obvious) and why does Koga say some specific things when summoning his Pokemon. That's all.

Red. Team: Nidorino, Gloom.

Stasis: Eevee, Charmeleon, Gyarados, Raichu, Pidgeotto.

Badges: 4

Green. Team: Jynx, Jigglypuff.

Stasis: Venusaur, Nidorina, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, Horsea.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Weepinbell(Bell), Blastoise(Tori), Zubat(Ken), Graveler(?), Ponyta(Dasher).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, Gengar.


	47. 41: Color of Emotions

Disclaimer before you read: Around 30-40% of this chapter was written on a phone. I was feeling like I had too many distractions to write on a PC and writing this way helped me get into the groove of writing and write the rest on a computer. Although I paid attention to the phone making mistakes(I had to for things like Pokemon names), there still may be a couple small ones that got through. I hope that they won't diminish your enjoyment of the chapter and if you find some, be sure to let me know and I'll get them fixed.

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 41: Color of Emotions.

Nets kept giving Red suspicious glances as they walked through the base towards Blaine's laboratory. Red noticed it and made sure to stare intensely at the other boy so that he would finally stop acting weirdly.

"Aah! Stop that. That's scary." said the red-headed one.

"If you want to say something, just do it. It's making me anxious when you're acting like that."

"Anxious? It's me who's anxious! You're still mostly a mystery to me but I like spending time with you. You've been in confinement before we started sharing a room. What if they want to put you back in there?"

"Why would they do that?"

"I... I can't provide an answer without gathering enough data."

"Besides, if they wanted to do that they would probably send an Admin to do take me there. Alex and Angie still haven't returned but Peter is in the base."

"I guess you're right."

They stopped the conversation since they were already in front of the main laboratory. Even though Nets was part of the science division, he was still a low ranking member and didn't work on any of the major projects so it was hard to hide his excitement as he pressed the button next to the doors. Someone inside spoke to them through the intercom and let them inside.

Since the whole base was already technologically advanced in his eyes, Red wasn't too impressed by what he saw inside. On the other hand, Nets, with his scientific knowledge, was quite capable of appreciating the technology that was being worked on in different parts of the spacious laboratory. He felt like approaching each and every scientist working there in order to learn more about what they were doing but knowing that he himself didn't like being interrupted when tinkering with something, he stopped himself and stood with his back straightened, waiting for someone to approach him and Red.

"Oh. You're here already?" Blaine noticed the two of them while walking near the door in order to reach the kitchen and fill up his empty coffee mug.

"Yes, Sir, Doctor Humane! It's an honor to see you! You probably don't remember me but my name is Nets and I'm a big fan of your work!" the bespectacled boy shouted while bowing.

"Umm... I do remember you. I called for you. I didn't say "bring me Red and a random other person"." Blaine pointed out.

"Huh? I... But what does that mean?! What does that mean, Red?!" the teenager asked while grabbing his friend by the arm.

"I don't know. Why are you asking me? Ask him."

"Oh, right." Nets said before turning to the other scientist "How may I be of help?"

"Well... The work we do here is crucial to Team Rocket's goals. I have many talented people here but the problem that comes with talent is that they are too prideful. None of them would ever want to admit about making a mistake and they would rather throw the blame on someone else. I'm trying to control this chaos but it's not so easy. I never thought of this as a problem since we've been working on our main project for years but now that we're so close I want everything to go as smoothly as possible. I can't control them alone. I need someone as passionate as you to keep an eye on everyone here and inform me of anything that may seem like it could cause problems later one. So, are you up for the job?"

"Am I?! Of course I am! I don't know of exactly how much use I will be with my limited knowledge but I'll do my best!" Nets responded.

"Good. You should get to know everyone but I don't want you to disturb their work. We're going to take a break in half an hour so until then you can just walk around and watch what everyone is doing while I deal with something else."

"Alright! Thank you!" the boy shouted while bowing once again before running of towards the part of the lab which he was the most interested in.

Blaine kept his eyes on him for a while before turning to Red "You were on a mission when I brought your things and after you returned it was me who was quite busy so I didn't have time to ask you if I brought everything or if something was missing from your belongings."

"Oh. Yeah. Everything was there." Red couldn't help wondering if there was something hidden behind the scientists calm words so he decided to check it in a non-direct way "Did Erika say anything? Like, how's the situation with her mother?"

"I don't know."

Red became more worried. The answer could mean that Blaine forgot to ask or that Erika didn't answer him but the boy couldn't help assuming that it was something worse.

"Red... What do you want... What are you trying to do?"

It was clear. He knew. But the fact that he approached Red and asked him in such a way made the teenager want to gamble even more than when he asked him to visit Erika.

"I just want to help." the boy made sure not to hesitate while saying it in order to convey that it was the honest truth.

"Help who?" Blaine had a strong suspicion as to what the answer would be but he wanted to hear it from Red.

"Everyone." the young one couldn't help but smile awkwardly after saying that.

"That's not what I... What do you mean?"

"At first there was just one I wanted to help. When I came here and talked with the other one, I thought "It's going to be hard but I believe I can help both of them". Then, after talking with more people and learning about them I... I don't know if I'm able to help them all. I don't even know where to start but... I want to believe that Cross was wrong. I want to give everyone a chance... It's just the way I am... I guess... When bad things happen to someone it makes me want to help them. I can't look into everyone's problems but what... what "he" wants to do isn't going to solve them. I think it's just going to create problems for other people."

"I see. I'm not going to do anything for now but... I'll need to think about it."

"That makes it sound like at any point he could decide to either help me or get rid of me." Red thought "It would be great if he did the first one but I probably shouldn't press him. I'll just have to be careful, even though my guts tell me that if he was to become my enemy, he would want to deal with me in an honorable way."

"Before you leave, there's two things." Blaine spoke up after being silent for a while, surprising Red "I heard that Angie is going to come back in a couple hours. You and Peter should probably meet up with her and discuss what she found out on her mission. I won't be able to be there, that's why I want you to go and inform me if there's anything they may need my help with but also... just in case anything happens. The Admins personalities clash a lot so it's important to have someone who can act as a mediator. That role is often up to me."

"Alright. What's the other thing?"

"It's about Mewtwo... or rather... I heard it's calling itself Cross. I want to talk about it when we'll both have more time. For now I just want to know this; what's the significance of the name?"

"The name? Uuh... He asked me what's a cross called and I told him. Maybe he likes the shape?"

At first the scientist looked surprised but he soon started chuckling, almost having to stop himself from starting to laugh.

"Is that so?" he said while grabbing his forehead while still grinning.

It didn't look like he was going to stop, and since Red heard everything the man wanted to say, he left after bowing quickly.

. . .

"Now that I've sat here for 3 hours, I realize that coming here before Angie returned wasn't the best idea." Red thought while looking at a clock at the wall.

Although he was able to take a nap, he still waited enough to get bored. The weirdest thing was that even though he informed Peter about the meeting, the man didn't come so he had to sit in the Admins' meeting room by himself. He spent the next 20 minutes trying to figure out what decision, regarding what to do with him, Blaine would reach, and finally the doors to the room opened and both of the Team Rocket members he's been waiting for entered the room.

"What are you doing?!" Angie exclaimed in shock while Peter passed both of them on the way to his seat.

"Blaine asked me to attend the meeting in his place. Didn't Peter tell you?"

The girl looked at the other Admin who noticed that there was something different about the way she acted, as if she was trying to conceal that she was angry at him, even though normally she would reprimand him. Not that he minded this odd behavior.

Since it didn't look like either of them was going to say anything, Red decided to speak up "Umm... How did your mission go? The last time I saw you, you were talking about trying to find the location of the Darkness Gang headquarters. Any luck with that?"

"Luck? What kind of question is that? Whenever I'm in involved with something, the probability of success isn't based on luck but on my skill." the girl answered without even looking in his direction.

"Alright. Then should I ask "Any skill"? Wait. No. That doesn't make sense."

"Just get on with it!" Peter raised his voice "I have better things to do than sit here."

"What is that supposed to mean?!" Angie also became louder "There's nothing more important than your duties as a Team Rocket Admin! And part of that are these meetings!"

"I really hope that once we change the world, I'll never have to hear your annoying voice again. Besides, what I'd rather do, than just sit here and wait for you to finally start talking, is find a way to try and do something that will redeem me after that screw up with the masterball."

"I think I hate Blaine." Red thought to himself after seeing what kind of mess the scientist decided to put him in.

"Calm down already!" He shouted which was surprising enough to shut up both of the Admins "Look, Angie... Just say what you managed to learn and we'll be done."

She was still a little shocked so she turned her eyes towards Peter who seemed to be in agreement about allowing her to say what she wanted them to hear. She walked towards the wall opposite of the seats in order to be able to easily see both of them without turning her head in case of any potential questions.

"My mission was a great success. Not only did I learn the location of their base but I've also figured out a way to reach it while avoiding their outposts. There are however a couple troubling factors." she paused in order to see if any of them would ask about them but when they didn't she went on with her explanation "I know how to reach their base but getting inside could be a little problematic. I was alone so I was already taking a pretty big risk but since I turned off my communicator in case they could somehow detect it, it would be too risky to try to get inside without having anyone who could help me if things went south. So while I saw the defenses around the base, I don't know what's inside. There's a certain factor that makes me sure that this is their headquarters but before that there's another thing I should mention. It's just... I'm not sure how we should go about it. A group bigger than 3 people probably couldn't manage to reach that place undetected. We could try an all-out assault but they would see us coming from far away and since it's their home turf... So? Still no questions?"

"You mentioned something that makes it clear that this is their main base. What is that?" Red asked after looking at Peter to make sure that he wasn't going to interrupt him.

"I saw Faust."

"What?!" Red asked while standing up and leaning on the desk in front of him "I thought you said he was dead. What was that about anyway?"

"Oh. That's right. You've fought him once before. Well, from what I've heard, he was hunted down by members of Darkness Gang after his failure and escape. He was supposed to be killed but what they've done is much worse. They've turned him into a cyborg. Or a robot. It's hard to tell how much humanity is left in him. He looks pretty messed up."

"How does that prove that it's their main base?" Peter inquired "Faust was a high ranking member but if they've done something like that to him, it's hard to tell what's his position right now. Besides, we're both people who work directly under the boss yet we don't live at our HQ."

"Look... I've got a hunch..."

"A hunch? You said you don't rely on luck but a hunch is okay? What the hell happened to you recently? Normally you would investigate the matter more thoroughly instead of wasting our time."

"I told you the reason why I didn't do that."

"Then get this team of three you mentioned and go back there."

"Are you forgetting yourself? Since when do I get orders from you?"

"Alright, alright." Red said while stepping from behind the desk and gesturing towards both of them to stop them from arguing "What do you want do to do, Angie?"

"I'm going back there." she answered before glaring at Peter "And not because someone ordered me to but for the good of Team Rocket."

"Good. Then I'm going with you." said Red.

"What?!" Angie took a step back from being surprised and bumped into the wall behind her.

"I'm supposed to earn the trust of each of the Admins before I'm allowed to be a full fledged member of Team Rocket. You're the last one. Besides, since I've met Faust in the past, I'm the best person for this, aren't I?"

"Can't argue with that." Peter said before Angie could come up with an answer "Or rather, I don't really care. There were some unforeseen circumstances during our mission but I think he's pretty smart. Besides, that's what the boss wanted."

"Right. Since these are orders from him, I can't say no." the girl said to herself before looking at Red "Alright. You're in. Now we need to choose the third person."

. . .

It didn't take long for a third person to join the scouting party to be chosen. Angie seemed like she already had someone in mind and after a quick call, the chosen person arrived in a meeting room different to the one where Red talked with the Admins.

"Don't I know you from somewhere?" he asked after seeing who would be joining them.

The person, a red-headed girl with a ponytail, looked at him with a smug grin "I was hoping you would recognize me. After all I played a role in you joining Team Rocket. I was the one who realized that you and Green weren't members when the two of you tried sneaking into the base."

"Green? You know our names? Wait. Does everyone know our names? Could it be that we're like some kind of small time celebrities to Team Rocket members?" the boy allowed himself to fantasize a little but the girl was quick to shoot down his dreams.

"Not really. People who were there, and others whom you've met before joining, know who you are since we were curious after seeing you two walking around the base soon after your capture. I imagine that some of them would like a word with you two but are either shy or intimidated."

"Why would they be intimidated?"

"Are you kidding? Just take a look at this situation. This mission is going to be a culmination of months of work that our people put into figuring out the location of the enemy base. It makes sense that I'm one of the people picked for it since I've worked long and hard to get noticed by one of the Admins. But you're still a mystery and if people weren't afraid of Angie getting angry at them, they would probably complain about you being chosen."

"Hmm. Maybe me and Green should hold a meeting once we're both back so that we can put people's minds to ease."

"You're being awfully casual about this by assuming that you're going to be able to come back from this mission. One small mistake is all it would take. If the enemy finds out about us, it's all over. There's no hope of winning in a fight and running away also wouldn't be too easy."

"I think we would be able to force our way through if we had more firepower. I'm not taking about more people but about more Pokemon. Since I'm basically on probation, I'm allowed only two Pokemon per mission."

"Who said that?" Angie, who until that point was browsing some documents at a different table, approached them and interrupted their conversation even though she missed most of it.

"Uhh. Peter did."

"There are no official rules for people in a situation like yours so I guess it's up to each Admin when it comes to how they handle it during their missions. I will allow you to use a full team of Pokemon. I hope that you won't have to use any of them but it's good to take precautions. Just don't think about using them to turn on us once we're in the field. Try that and you'll be painting a target on yourself for all the Darkness Gang members."

"Do I look like someone who would try to do that?"

"The first time we met, you immediately tried to lie to me." noted the other girl.

"Well, that's just an unfair comparison... I just realized that I still don't know your name."

"It's going to be pretty important to know it once we're out there, isn't it? I'm Tarieli."

"Okay." Red's first instinct was to introduce himself but he remembered in time that everyone present already knew his name so he felt a little awkward, not knowing what else they could talk about.

"What were these documents you were looking at?" Tarieli broke the silence by asking Angie.

"It's a compilation of everything we know about Darkness Gang. Intelligence gathered by my subordinates but also all the data other Team Rocket members have acquired over the years. It's still not much and we can't be sure how much of it is true and what is just rumors but I wanted to go over all of it a couple times before we depart."

"Well, is there anything in there that you would like to share with us? Something we could or should get ourselves prepared for?" asked Tarieli.

"Of course. While the organization itself is even more secretive than ours, it's hard to remain completely anonymous so we have at least some information about a couple important members."

"You mean people like Faust?" inquired Red.

"Sort of. From what we gathered, we're lead to believe that Faust is almost like a second-in-command in sense of strength, even though we only assume their boss to be a trainer. When it comes to actual hierarchy, we can't tell if or how many people are above him. But we know about those below him. They're like their equivalent of Team Rocket's Admins. We know about four of them but there certainly could be more."

Angie continued sharing the data with them for another twenty minutes or so. After that, Red was allowed to take his Pokemon out of stasis but he still had to send one of them to a digital box by using a computer. He decided that Gyarados would be least suited for what was essentially to be a stealth mission. After that, the only thing left to do was to select a pilot who would use a helicopter to take the scouting team as close to Darkness Gang's base as possible. Angie contacted the person who took her there and back when she went there earlier and, after around an hour, they were off.

. . .

The helicopter carrying Angie's group landed in the mountains, a good distance away from what she believed to be the farthest reaching outpost. Even though their uniforms were able to help them against low temperatures, each of them wore a black coat as an additional measure. Red observed as the helicopter flew away to an even safer distance before he turned towards the two girls.

"So what now?"

"For now just follow me and keep quiet. It's going to be a long walk. If you notice anything just tap my shoulder. You're going to be in the middle and Tarieli in the back. Once a reason for doing so arises, I will give you orders by gesturing with my left hand since I'll need the right one to reach for my pokeball. Anything else?"

"These things?" Red asked while showing a black band around his wrist.

"Wait. Peter didn't give you one when he took you on a mission?"

"No. I think I would remember. Maybe I'm going senile."

"Was that a joke?" said Tarieli.

"Umm. I guess..."

"Then it wasn't funny. As to what's the deal with these things; they're beacons. If you think you won't be able to use your communicator, you touch this thing in a specific way and It's going to send out a distress signal to our pilot. From that point on, he has to decide if he's going to risk it and try to save us or if he's going to call for backup from our closest base."

"Alright. Then I think I don't have any more questions for now."

Soon after that, the group started traversing the forests, following Angie who tried to use the exact same path as last time. From time to time, Red would notice what looked like the outposts she mentioned but it seemed like the forest hid them well enough not to worry about it. The thing bothering him was that the sun was about to set. He didn't bring a flashlight or anything of the sort with him but he suspected that they would be too dangerous to use since the enemies could probably easily spot the light. Since they couldn't see almost anything in the darkness, the only thing they could rely on was Angie's memory. The boy thought to himself that if they did it on a cloudless night, it would be much easier, especially since at some point the Admin would change directions after noticing a nearby patrol and the only way Red could know was to be completely focused on her. At one point he got worried about the possibility of Tarieli getting lost but he could still hear three distinct pairs of legs making their way through the snow.

. . .

"Now that I think about it, how are we supposed to see any gestures Angie makes in this darkness?" Red thought to himself after walking in the night for over two hours.

As if to answer that, two, dim, green lights appeared in front of him. He quickly understood that Angie took off one of her gloves and was using a fluorescent nail polish to show them the way. Since she didn't do it before, it would seem that this change of direction was something more important than even avoiding the enemies. After following the girl up a steep hill, Red understood why.

They were still about half a kilometer away but, after getting to a higher place, they could finally see their destination, a big compound with a building resembling a factory in the middle of it. Even though the place was lit up like a tree on Bonding Day, this far from civilization, no one would be able to find it if they weren't looking for it. The surprising thing to the boy was that there were multiple trucks inside the base. There was a road leading to it but the other end was a mountain. He imagined that each driver had to press a button which would make the rocks move apart to allow them to pass through the mountain but he dismissed the thought as too silly. He wanted to come up with a better explanation than that but Angie had other plans for him.

"It's going to get more intense from now on." she said after turning towards the group.

Red looked at Tarieli whom he noticed standing next to him and although he couldn't see her face too clearly, he imagined that she was making a similar expression to his.

Angie seemed to realize what they were doing "Since I'm already talking then yes... the two of you can also speak."

"Thanks." the two members of her team said at the same time, sounding almost like if they were out of breath because of the anticipation.

"Based on my previous visit, I suspect that we won't run into any patrols from this point onward. That doesn't mean that we can afford to be careless."

"It looks like there's a watchtower in each corner of the base." noted Tarieli "We won't be approaching from the front but even if we want to get in from the side we'll have to be careful not to get caught by a spotlight."

Red noticed that Angie smiled slightly after hearing what the other girl had to say but he didn't understand why. He thought that what she said was obvious enough that he himself didn't care to mention it but there must have been something about her, that he didn't notice yet, that made her the obvious choice for a member of this team for Angie.

"Can I make a couple suggestions?" Tarieli asked and judging by Angie's face, this was what the Admin was waiting for.

"Go ahead."

"I have my Zubat with me. It could draw attention to itself. Since this area is surrounded by mountains, wouldn't be surprising for one to appear here but it still could give us a couple seconds to reach the fence of the compound. Judging based on the size of the trucks, the fence isn't too tall so if we hurried we could climb over it."

"That's a good idea." commented Angie "Anything else?"

"It looks like they're unloading the trucks on the west side of the compound so if we're going to go through with this plan, we should approach from the east. After getting inside, we should stay put and observe for a while. We don't know what security measures are placed inside the building but since they have people stationed outside, that means that most likely they don't monitor the compound using cameras. If there's like a switch that's used to raise an alarm, I'm going to find and disable it. This way, even if someone notices us, we'll have time to escape before we get swarmed."

Angie and Red looked at her in silence, the first one seemed to be more proud of herself for bringing Tarieli along than of the girl herself, while the second one was trying to find anything wrong with what she said but the fact that he couldn't left him speechless. There were of course some things that could be added to her plan but they couldn't know all the factors that could change their decisions without getting closer. The group started moving again.

"Is she some kind of genius?" Red wondered quietly.

"She's just very observant and careful." Angie overhead the question and answered it.

. . .

The plan Tarieli came up with worked out exactly how she wanted it. The group got inside the compound and were hiding in the shadow of a shed that stood so close to the fence that it would be hard to see them unless someone got very close. Red was surprised by a part of the plan that he didn't consider, having Zubat stay outside the base since it flying back towards them could attract attention.

While he was thinking about it, Tarieli was already executing the next part of her plan. She swiftly moved towards a pole with a switch connected to a loudspeaker at the top of it. She cut off the cable connecting the two parts so that a sound couldn't be produced if someone were to pull the switch. Angie observed her from a distance and noticed someone going towards Tarieli. There was no way for her to alarm the other girl without revealing herself while doing it but it turned out that she was needlessly worried. Tarieli dropped to the ground and rolled towards the building. She was so close to the person passing her that if they looked down, they would surely notice her.

"If she's so good, why isn't she an Admin?" Red asked.

Angie looked at him with an irritated expression and whispered "Be quiet... Being good isn't what the boss wants from Admins. There are certain qualities that... What is she doing?"

The Admin noticed that instead of returning to them to figure out what they were going to do next, Tarieli decided to sneak towards the front of the building.

"If she's found out they're going to start searching for more intruders. What could she be trying to do?" Angie was doing her best not to raise her voice.

"I'm not sure but there's ways we could draw attention away from her." Red pointed out.

"Did you come up with something? We have to hurry."

. . .

Tarieli was hiding in the shadows, trying to get to a position from which she could have a direct view of the main entrance to the building. She noticed that next to a side door she saw was a panel with numbered buttons. Her hope was that each entrance used the same combination and that she would be able to learn them since people were sometimes entering and leaving the building. She finally managed to learn the numbers and realized too late that she got careless. A truck was about to drive into the compound and people gathered around it in order to check the contents would most likely notice her after turning back towards the inside of the base. Even one second of distraction would be enough to allow her to hide and start making her way towards the rest of the group but, knowing that she screwed up, she could only hope for a miracle. What saved her wasn't a miracle but rather a mystery hole.

"Hey! What's going on?" said one of the people responsible for examining the trucks.

"I think It's stuck!" the driver yelled back while leaning out the window.

Another person got on their knee next to one of the wheels and announced to the rest "There's a hole here! Looks like it was made by some wild Pokemon!"

"Can we lift it up?" asked an older men who seemed to be in command of this particular group.

"Maybe if we get some more guys."

"Then gather anyone who's wandering around and let's do it."

Tarieli, who already managed to get back to her team, observed with disbelief as everyone who could stand in their way to the side door went towards the gate. She looked at Red and Angie who was putting Sandslash back in its pokeball, and nodded to let them know that this was their best chance to get inside.

"I usually don't have a plan but if someone else has one I would li... Aaaand she's gone." Red didn't have a chance to finish since Tarieli started running towards the side entrance and after seeing Angie following her, he decided to do the same.

The red-headed girl selected the numbers and was happy to find that she was right about every door using the same combination. It took only three seconds for the three of them to get inside but they still couldn't be sure that no one saw them so they kept on going as fast as possible. They found another hiding spot inside and Tarieli began to scan their surroundings for cameras.

"We're in the clear. I saw a vent. Were getting in it." she reported her findings.

Red looked at Angie to confirm whether they were going with this plan but she immediately turned in the other direction. Red suspected that he must have angered her in some way but there was no time to try to think about how he could have offended her. He saw that Tarieli was already advancing towards the vent she mentioned. The rest followed her and the boy began to wonder if the Admin could still be considered as the one leading the mission. How was the mission even supposed to proceed from that point onward? They got inside the base but it wasn't clear to him what they were hoping to achieve by doing it. He would try to ask Angie but since they were already in the vent, it would be hard to have a proper conversation, not only because they didn't want to make noise but also because she was crawling behind him and it would be rude to talk to her when the only thing she could see in front of her was his butt.

He felt relieved that they coats were long enough or otherwise he would probably feel the need to look away from Tarieli's rear in order not to look like a pervert. Not that anyone could see where he was looking at the time. Still, he preferred to look around, hoping to finally spot some openings in the vent that could be used to peer outside and figure out where they were. It didn't take long before Tarieli suddenly stopped. Red noticed that she was looking through a metal pane with multiple slits. He couldn't see what she was observing from where he was but her face was at angle where he could view the visible disgust for whatever was going on on the other side of that pane. He grabbed her by the ankle but she was so taken aback that she didn't notice him until he shook her leg a little. She crawled forward to allow him to see the outside.

"What?" he couldn't stop himself from asking.

He was loud enough to be heard by the other two. Angie wanted to reprimand him but she couldn't think of a way to do it without making more noise than he just did. On the other hand, Tarieli could easily understand how someone could have this type of reaction. She was actually surprised how someone who wasn't really trained by Team Rocket could have such a mild reaction, but also happy that he didn't reveal their presence to the people in the room the vent was going through.

"These bastards..." the boy said in a quieter voice before lowering his head.

Angie still had no clue what was going on but Tarieli assumed that he was going to cry and tried rotating her body so that she could approach him, hoping that a face-to-face with her would help in calming him down. Right as she began to move, she felt something or someone grab her by the hand. She didn't have time for a proper reaction because Red also decided to start moving, although in a much swifter fashion.

"I'll kill you!" he shouted while bashing the pane with his head, with such strength that he caused it to fall out, with him following right after it.

Even though he managed to do something that should normally be impossible to a regular human being, he didn't come out unscathed. He landed on the floor and slowly got up. By touching his forehead where the pain was coming from, he accidentally smeared the blood flowing from it on the rest of his face. This sudden entrance and the way he looked was so stunning that no one in the room knew had to react. There were around twenty people there, all dressed like scientists, and all of them had their instincts telling them that if they tried to as much as twitch, they would be putting themselves in mortal danger.

Angie followed Red as quickly as she could but before she could make any comment about his behavior, she witnessed what it was that made him so agitated. On the opposite side of the room she could see multiple tanks filled with a green liquid and in each of them was a Pokemon, but none of them looked right. It was something more than just breeding them. These people were clearly conducting experiments that consisted of them forcing a mutation. It seemed almost as if they were hoping to create a hybrids that were a mix of Pokemon and humans. She was disgusted by the sight but she knew that despite that she would never react in the same way Red did. But she didn't have time to consider what could have been. She had to take advantage of the fact that these people were too scared to move.

"Go, Sandslash!"

Before she could give her Pokemon a command, she was distracted by Tarieli's voice coming from behind "Help!"

The other girl came flying out of the vent but it didn't look like she did it of her own volition. Right after she hit the floor, someone or something else appeared from inside the vent. It looked like a long haired man, in a green bandana, in his twenties, expect for the fact that his skin had a greenish-yellow hue to it, and instead of walking, he moved along the wall using slime from his bare hands and feet in order to stick to it.

"Faust was right." he stated, his voice sounding as if his mouth was partially filled with liquid.

"Are you like them?" Red was still visibly burning with anger but he could control himself enough to pose the question while pointing towards the experiments in the tanks.

"Don't compare me these abominations. They are just Pokemon that we're trying to improve. I'm a human. But why the hell am I answering you? You're not going to live much long..."

Having confirmed what he needed to know, Red pushed the button on the pokeball he's been holding for a while and summoned Eevee. He made sure to talk to his Pokemon before the mission began to let them know that if he summoned them, they were to be prepared for a serious situation. The dog instinctively recognized the man in the bandana as a threat and started running at him even before receiving any order.

"Quick Attack!" Red shouted.

The opponent jumped out of the way long before Eevee could reach the wall but he wasn't prepared for another attack from the direction he leapt towards. He turned his head at the perfect moment to see Red's fist pummel him in the face. With the speed he was moving at, the punch was enough to make him fall on the ground, unconscious, not to mention his broken nose.

"Now the rest of you!" Red yelled, his emotions causing his voice to raise to almost a shriek.

He swiftly moved towards the scientist and grabbed one of them by the neck, ready to deliver the same kind of treatment he gave the yellow-skinned man. To his surprise, his hand was stopped by something right as he was about to knock out the person he was holding. He turned to see Angie trying to stop him by grabbing his arm with all her strength.

"We don't have time! Don't you understand?! This was a trap! Faust knew we were coming! We have to get out!"

"You're asking me if I understand?! Can't you see what they did to these Pokemon?! How many more will meet this fate if we don't stop them?!"

"We will!" she raised her voice in desperation "But we can't do it right now! It's three of us against however many of them and Tarieli is already hurt! The best thing we can do is get out and get backup! If we get caught right now, then we won't be able to inform anyone about these experiments and Darkness Gang will probably move to another base! Just... Please, listen to me."

Red looked with disgust at the person he was trying to punch, and then at the rest of them who were still too intimidated to attempt anything, before turning back towards Angie and saying "Ok."

After she slowly let go of him, he decided to let out at least a bit of his anger by throwing the scientist at the others, looking as they fell to the floor like a tower of building blocks. In that time, Angie helped Tarieli stand up after hearing from the other girl that she sprained an ankle.

"I'll make sure that they won't be able to alarm anyone." said the Admin "Sandslash, use Sandstorm."

The Pokemon hit the floor with one of its feet, making particles of sand, that weren't there a second ago, raise from the floor before gesturing in the direction of the scientists which caused the sand to move in their direction while starting to move around as if they were about to form a tornado.

"Alright. What now?" Red asked their leader after taking Eevee into his arms.

"Tarieli won't be able to go back the way we came from with her leg like this. We'll have to find another path to an exit."

Red silently followed the girls and Sandslash as they were leaving the room, stopping for a second to take one last look at the Pokemon in the tanks and biting his lip to force himself to leave despite wanting to help them.

. . .

The group slowly made their way through the facility. The ordeal was made harder after a while since it seemed like the scientist were able to notify other members of Darkness Gang of their presence in the base. There weren't many spots they could hide it and the only way they could increase their chances was by putting Sandslash back in the pokeball since making the group a little smaller would make it harder to notice. It turned out that it wasn't enough. Although Tarieli knew the general direction towards two other doors leading to the outside, they had to take detours in order to avoid getting into a fight but they did't know the layout of the building which meant that sometimes someone would surprise them by appearing from somewhere they wouldn't expect. Red kept on using Eevee in order to knock out singular opponents before they could get help or summon their own Pokemon.

"It's no use." Tarieli said while they were hiding behind a bunch of crates "I'm only slowing you down. If Angie didn't have to carry me, she could use her Pokemon and both of you could move faster. You should leave me..."

She couldn't finish her sentence because of the sharp pain in her cheek. Both girls looked at Red with shock after he just slapped Tarieli.

"What the hell are you doing?" Angie asked.

"I... It just seemed like the obvious thing to do. I already feel terrible about leaving those Pokemon behind and you're asking us to do the same with you? You can't do that. If you ever think about giving up, you have to stop thinking and rely on your gut. Do you want do die here?"

"Of course not." Tarieli responded.

"Good. You want to live. That feeling is enough to carry you forward."

"Except I can't move by myself."

"When I said "carry"..." Red said as he grabbed her by the waist "...I meant it literally."

He lifted her up and threw her over his arm. He wasn't the strongest person but he had a lot of stamina and the girl weighed less than he would suspect so he was confident that he could keep her like that for at least a couple minutes. This position also allowed him to keep one of his hands free.

"Can you tell me the directions while hanging backwards?"

The girl needed some time to process what just happened but she answered "Yes. I'll also be able to keep a watch on anyone trying to attack us from behind."

"Alright. Angie, we're gonna run." Red said to the Admin who still looked astonished but managed to nod so the boy started running in the direction they were moving towards before.

Not having to help Tarieli anymore, Angie called out her Sandslash which used Slash on anyone who would try to get in their way. This way they were able to reach one of the exits. Everything was happening fast but the Admin couldn't get rid of the feeling that they were ignoring something.

Red kicked the door open and the group was greeted with a half-circle of Darkness Gang members waiting for them outside. They couldn't move backwards since Tarieli alarmed them about another bunch following them from inside the building. Angie closed the door behind them and had Sandslash damage the lock so that group wouldn't be able to get in their way. The Admin noticed that it started to snow but she was more concerned about the opponents in front. It seemed that if they would be able to get through them, they would be in the clear.

"We finally meet again, boy." a familiar voice came from above.

"On the roof!" Tarieli shouted while pointing towards a person standing on the ledge about 5 meters above the door.

Red turned around. Although most of the body was robotic, the face remained mostly the same besides gaining an artificial eye, so the boy immediately recognized Faust. His limbs were replaced by robotic ones, with one of his arms being an enormous pincer claw, and both his feet replaced by tracks that looked like they could change shape depending on the way he needed to move in, It looked like he was about to jump down so Team Rocket moved away from the door. The cracks made in the ground after his fall suggested that he must have weighed hundreds of kilograms.

"The last time we faced each other I was just a normal human. When I returned to Darkness Gang, they wanted me to turn me into a human-Pokemon hybrid like they did with a couple others but I wanted to stand out from the rest. That's why I underwent a different kind of transformation. I heard you beat Krote but I'm not like that fool. Your Eevee won't be able to put so much as a scratch on my new body... but I invite you to try."

"Come back, Eevee." Red put the dog back in his pokeball.

"Are you planning on giving up without putting up any resistance? I'm a pretty merciful guy so I won't cause you much pain... but I still plan on killing you."

"Angie, keep an eye on Tarieli." Red said while putting down the latter.

The Admin nodded and turned towards the lesser Darkness Gang members. It seemed that they were eager to fight her at the same time Red would be facing their superior so she gave Sandslash a look that meant that it had to be prepared for sudden attacks.

"We're supposed to run away, not fight, but I don't know what this new body of his is capable of so I have to test out if escape is possible at all." Red thought as he stared down the man "Last time I had to use my whole team and I still wasn't able to defeat his Machamp. It looks like he's so confident that he doesn't plan on using any Pokemon but there's a chance that he's underestimating us, not knowing how much my Pokemon changed since then."

"I've waited long enough." Faust stated before his treads started moving, carrying him towards Red as he was preparing to attack with his pincer.

"Charmeleon!" Red released the Pokemon from his ball before the opponent could reach them and decided to try a counter similar to the attack "Metal Claw!"

The two clashed and although the Fire Pokemon was moved back a little thanks to the speed Faust gained before delivering the blow, he didn't fall which filled Red with optimism. But that wasn't all that the enemy planned to do. He tightened the pincer around Charmeleon's arm and started moving his treads faster than before. The lizard struggled to push back but he couldn't keep up. The combination of snow and mud beneath his feet made it harder to keep his balance and after a couple seconds, he slipped up, allowing the one-eyed man to lift him off the ground and throw him into air in order to make an easy target once he would fall down.

"Flamethrower!" Red ordered.

Charmeleon shout out a stream of fire which hit the opponent while also slowing down his descent but he noticed that Faust put up both his arms in time to block the attack, and while his metallic body looked like it was heating up, it would probably take a lot more to actually damage it. By making an "x" out of them and swinging his arms in the direction of the lizard, he sent the attack back to the one who used it. It didn't do much damage but Red could see that his Pokemon was momentarily blinded by it and he was about to fall belly-first into Faust's closed pincer. The boy sprung forward and stretch himself out as much as he could in order to punch the only part of Faust that still looked human, his face. Because of his weight making him grounded, the man wasn't moved at all by the attack, but he didn't expect it which was enough to make him turn slightly to look at the boy. That offset him enough to allow Charmeleon to miss the pincer and land safely on the ground in front of him.

"Go!" Red shouted, opting out for a quick command instead of using an attack names, knowing that even a fraction of a second could make a huge difference.

Seeing that the lizard was about to use Flamethrower, Faust had little time to react. The attack was aimed at his head and he wouldn't be able to put up a guard fast enough so he swung his torso backwards. After seeing that his foe planned to continued the attack by trying to reach his face despite him dodging, he put his treads to use and started moving backwards as fast as he could. Unfortunately for him, he didn't account for the distance between him and the building and although he managed to avoid the fire, he crashed into the wall, his metallic limbs piercing it and causing him to get stuck. There wasn't telling how long it would take him to get out but this was the best chance Red could get.

"We're going!" he announced to Angie who already managed to defeat a bunch of opponent's with her Sandslash "Charmeleon, use Smokescreen!"

He ran over to Tarieli while he could still see the girls and picked her up. Once he was holding her, she pointed towards a direction to tell him and Angie which way they should go to escape. The group ran outside the cloud of smoke and reached the fence. Charmeleon and Sandslash exchanged quick looks as if to confirm whether the other one knew what they were supposed to do, even though neither of them received an order. The two used their respective slashing attacks in order to cut through the fence. A person on one of the towers noticed them and planned to intervene in their escape but Tarieli's Zubat appeared in front of them suddenly, making them stumble backwards and fall to the ground from such height that they must have broken at least a couple bones.

. . .

"It's no use!" Angie yelled, not worried about the pursuit because the wind picked up and they were now in a snowstorm that made it hard to hear if she talked normally "My beacon doesn't want to activate! It's already troublesome because of all the mountains around us but this weather makes it even harder! How about you?!"

Red and Tarieli both touched their bands but theirs also wouldn't react.

"At least we know which direction we're heading in!" Tarieli tried to look at the positive side of the situation.

"Won't that make it easier for them to find us?!" Red asked but neither girl wanted to answer that which itself was enough to know that they weren't in the clear, not by a long mile.

"Damn it. We can't just keeping on walking like this. Even if we manage to avoid them, it's getting colder by the minute. We'll freeze if we stay out in the open." Angie thought right as they were approaching what looked like a clearing in the woods.

There was a chance they would be able to spot some hiding place once the trees wouldn't obstruct their view but it would also mean that they themselves would be easier to spot if their enemies were somewhere nearby.

"Watch out!" Red shouted, even louder than before, making Angie stop completely.

She didn't understood at first what was going on but after a while she understood that she was so busy looking around that she didn't bother to look down. Otherwise, she would have noticed that she was about to walk off a cliff, Seeing where she was standing, she immediately took a step back.

"Thanks! This looks like a dead end! We'll have to pick another way!" she said but after turning around she felt like her words may have jinxed them.

From between the trees appeared Faust. The fact that he found them so quickly must have meant that he was following them fairly closely and this stop was what he needed to catch up. With him blocking the way towards the forest and with a cliff behind them, the group had nowhere to escape. Angie and Red hid their Pokemon back in their balls soon after leaving the compound since they didn't want them to get needlessly tired but standing face to face with their enemy made her think that it was a mistake because she wasn't confident that she would be able to summon her Pokemon before Faust's attack would reach them.

"I won't be taking any chances." stated the one-eyed man, although none of his enemies were close enough to hear it.

They didn't need to hear him since his next actions were enough to make them understand what he wanted to do. He hit the ground in front of him a couple times, until he made a hole into which he inserted his pincer claw. The fact that he did it with his hand being sideways, didn't escape Red's attention. The boy had a feeling about what it could mean but trying to confirm his suspicion by approaching Faust would be equally dangerous to what the man wanted to do to them. It took him only a second to get over this worry and start running forward in order to stop him but that second was all the criminal needed.

Beside making a hole, Faust's punching caused multiple cracks to form underground, weakening the cliff enough that when he used his pincer, he could cause the earth to move apart by expanding the claw. Red could probably make it over the gap but there were two things that made him stop. Firstly, it was now clear that Faust would use his other hand to send him back, and secondly, he and Tarieli would be leaving Angie behind even if he somehow avoided getting punched. Part of the cliff detached itself and the three of them fell together with it. Faust lifted his hand and looked below. It was hard to see because of the snow but he was certain it was a long way down and with the visibility so low, the group would have trouble trying to grab onto anything.

"I'll have to send some people to confirm their deaths once this snowstorm stops." he made a mental note "Now... Which way was the base?"

. . .

"Hang on tight!" Angie yelled to the rest of the group.

"Red, you can let go of me! I don't need my leg for this!" Tarieli informed the boy.

"I would but I don't know how to do it without letting go myself!"

Thanks to Angie's quick thinking, they were now flying on her Dragonair. That didn't mean that they were out of trouble. The bottom of the ravine they were thrown into had a fast stream going through it and the lower the altitude the less space there was between rock formations. Everything happened so quickly that Angie was hanging from the bottom of her Pokemon, feeling like her arms could give out at any moment. Red was the right way up but his grip wasn't much better since he still was using one of his hands to hold onto Tarieli. They wanted to get out of this place as fast as possible but flying through the ravine while avoiding the sharps rocks and the freezing water was a task Dragonair wasn't expecting to be carrying out that day. They couldn't just fly up with worrying about falling off the Pokemon or about their pursuers noticing them. The ride was bumpy but they finally reached the end of the ravine where the stream formed a small waterfall, and flew over a stretch of forest for some time before noticing that they were in the clear.

"We'll have to find somewhere to land!" shouted Tarieli.

"That won't be enough! We have to find some place to hide! Dragonair, fly closer to the mountain! Maybe I'll spot a cave!" Angie answered the other girl before giving a command to her Pokemon.

The dragon turned around although it was still hard to move like it wanted to. If they were to find a cave, they had to do it fast since the humans' hands could lose their strength at any moment but if the Pokemon moved too fast it could risk dropping them.

"I see something!" Tarieli announced to the rest.

. . .

"You have a good eye." Angie complimented Tarieli while examining the walls of the cave with her hand.

"We may not be in the snowstorm anymore but it's still terribly cold." the other girl commented, sitting as far away from the entrance as she could, while also trying to examine the damage to her leg.

"Not for long." Red interjected while jumping into the cave from Dragonair's back, carrying some wood.

Charmeleon and Sandslash were right behind him. The boy used the two Pokemon to quickly cut down some trees in order to start a fire that would keep the group warm until the snow subsided but since the cave was fairly high, it was safer to fly to it on Dragonair's back than trying to climb the ice-covered wall of the mountain.

Angie returned both her Pokemon to their balls to let them rest after everything they had to. Meanwhile, Red and Charmeleon arranged the wood and some stones around it before the lizard set it on fire.

"You did well, buddy." the boy said to the Pokemon before putting him in his pokeball.

As he was approaching Tarieli in order to help her get closer to the fire, Red kept on scratching his left hand.

"Did something happen?" Angie asked, sounding a little worried, most likely thinking that he had to fight someone or something while collecting wood.

"No. It's a little itchy. I probably got a splinter or something. Nothing to worry about."

"Ohh. This fire is so nice." Tarieli noted while warming her hands "I don't suppose either of you will be able to fix my leg so I won't be able to be on the lookout but one of you should probably stay awake. Decide that between yourself. I'll hit the hay for now... I wish there was hay. This rocky floor isn't the most comfortable."

The other two sat in silence for a while. Red would sometimes poke the burning wood with a stick. Angie was waiting for Tarieli to fall asleep and when she was fairly sure that the other girl went off to dreamland, she sat a little closer to Red and turned slightly towards him.

"Don't take this the wrong way but... you were kind of scary back there. Being able to intimidate your enemies is a useful ability but it looked like you lost control of yourself."

"Not really."

"What?"

"By saying that I lost control, you make it sound like I should dislike the way I acted. What I dislike is that you were right. Leaving was probably the best thing to do and I hate that we couldn't save those Pokemon."

"I told you that we'll save them later."

"I know but... Aren't you mad that we didn't do it back then?"

"I thought about it at the time and I waged our chances. That's all."

"You're talking about probability... You're missing the point."

"Then explain your reasoning to me."

Red couldn't help but laugh.

"What's so funny?" the Admin asked.

"There's no reasoning. It's all based on emotions. If I feel that I want to help someone, I'll do it, even if they tell me not to. If I feel like someone deserves a punch to the face, I'll deliver it even if it gets me into trouble."

"That's no way to live. If you don't think everything through, you'll get yourself killed one of these days."

"Then how about a hypothetical scenario?" he asked while leaning towards her.

"Alright... I guess?"

"You see someone in a dangerous situation and think "there's a chance that this person could die right now". You aren't completely sure if they will die. If you try to save them, there's a chance you will die. You could also live but there's definitely a chance you could die and it could be that it was all for nothing. Would you save them?"

"Who is the person in this scenario?"

"Doesn't matter."

"What I would do would depend on who it was."

"You know... If I thought that way, there is a chance you would be dead..." he said before lying down "...Or not."

Angie didn't immediately understood what he meant but after running what he said through her mind once again, she understood that his hypothetical scenario was alluding to the time he saved her in Cerulean City. The boy went to sleep, turning her back to her. She remembered how he hurt himself on shattered glass back there and without thinking she reached out towards him but realized what she was doing right before touching him.

"They're very different yet somehow... Somehow he reminds me of father." Angie thought as she sat there observing the fire.

* * *

So, right after writing the longest chapter up until that point, I went and started writing this one which turned out to be even longer. Now I'm starting to worry. I wanted this chapter to stand out but I also want the couple next ones to stand out together with this one and I don't think I'll be able to make them this long and it may seem like I don't care about what's going on in them as much as I care about this one.

Let's go over some major points of this chapter:

\- I gave Nets something to do beside being Red's roommate

\- Red and Blaine finally have a much needed talk after what happened in chapter 35

\- Faust returns. If I wanted to be dramatic, I could have kept it hidden until he appeared but there then the conversation between Red and the Admins and even the mission would probably go completely different. In-universe it's been around 3 months since Red last saw him but in actual time it's been more than a year.

\- I introduced various concepts like experimental Pokemon, people with Pokemon abilities and cyborgs and I realize that some people probably won't like it. I think I can safely say that the first two will be limited to Darkness Gang and their storyline won't go on forever so you'll only have to deal with it for some time. There are a couple others like Krote and I hoped to have them appear at least for a bit in this chapter but there wasn't a good place so I'll introduce them another time. But the slimy man and the others was mostly just me wanting to have some fun, silly characters that don't need to have any backstory or development and are there just for flair.

\- Red got his Pokemon back. Eevee and Charmeleon haven't appeared since chapter 28. Speaking of Pokemon, I updated my profile so it lists all the Pokemon of the current main characters and the chapters in which they got them so if you ever read about someone using a certain Pokemon and you aren't able to remember where it came from, you'll have an easier way to check.

\- Tarieli came back. Of course she didn't have a name when she was first introduced but I pointed her out from the crowd back then so that I would have a Team Rocket member I could use later on if I wanted to. There was a lot of stuff about the mission that I had to figure out as I wrote it and adding a third person to the party was one of them. She's like a tie-breaker for Red and Angie's conflicting views in this chapter but she's also essentially the master of "I spy".

\- Red. He's not a character that can get much development but that doesn't necessarily mean that he's simple. That's why you and Angie get to learn more about how he views the consequences of his actions which I hope is enough to explain why he's acting so rashly a lot of the time.

* * *

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmeleon, Raichu, Gloom, Pidgeotto, Nidorino.

At Team Rocket Base: Gyarados.

Badges: 4

Green. Team: Jynx, Jigglypuff.

Stasis: Venusaur, Nidorina, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, Horsea.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Weepinbell(Bell), Blastoise(Tori), Zubat(Ken), Graveler(?), Ponyta(Dasher).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, Gengar.


	48. SS6: A Friend

I'm trying to write the next chapter but I've only got like 10-20% of it done and I can't get into the groove. Even today I tried to write some but instead ended up deciding to write this short tale. It's a weird place to put it in but even more so than the previous side stories, there is absolutely no need for you to read it if you just want to enjoy the main story. Let's just hope that this small detour will help me get into the right mood to continue writing the next chapter.

* * *

Pokemon Tales: Red Side Story 6: A Friend.

Somewhere on the outskirts of Vermilion City, a small restaurant was recently opened. Quickly, a tale started spreading, one about a famous chef who supposedly got bored of his previous job at a high-end restaurant and wanted to relax by opening a place that anyone could enjoy. Unless someone lived in that neighborhood, it wasn't too easy to find that place but many were determined to confirm whether the story was true. One of the people searching for it was a young man who hoped that finding the place and giving the location to a big newspaper would earn him a job. It took him some time, especially since people he tried to ask about the restaurant didn't feel like they could trust him. When one of them tried to warn the chef about the suspicious man, he reminded the person that anyone was allowed to eat there. He hid the fact that he was curious as to what that mysterious man wanted from him. Unless he would try to use Pokemon, the chef was confident that he could deal with him if he tried do something bad.

. . .

The aspiring journalist was a little suspicious after attaining the information from someone who previously refused to give it to him but he didn't want to look like he was scared by it so he visited the place the next day, after dressing himself way too fancy, hoping that it would make him seem more serious in the eyes of the chef. When he arrived at the location, he thought to himself that he was probably being played with. The lone, two-storied building looked like it had a restaurant at the ground floor but from the outside it didn't look like anything he would expect from a famous chef.

He opened the door carefully and was almost immediately blown away. The place was small so the heat coming from the kitchen was fairly intense, especially since the temperature outside was below freezing, but what was more important was the wave of what seemed like a thousand different aromas. As he entered the building and made his way towards the register, he glanced at what the people were eating and was amazed by the fact that each dish looked like it came from a completely different culture. It must have been the combination of the chef's cooking abilities as well as connections that would allow him to keep the restaurant stocked in order to provide such a varied menu. There was also the possibility that he was changing it from time to time so he didn't have anything that he wouldn't need but somehow that seemed even crazier.

"So? What will you have?" the man was so occupied with the food that he didn't notice that he walked through the entire room and a tanned man with a ponytail, standing next to the cash register.

"Um... I'm not sure... Is your menu..."

"You like seafood?"

"Uh... Yes? I mean... I don't mind it..."

"That's great. No one ordered any today and I was hoping that I would get a chance to cook some up today."

"Wait! You're the chef?"

The tanned man stared at him with a confused expressions "I'm not the only chef. Did you think that this place was ran by one person? There's 5 other people currently working hard in the back."

The other man didn't know how to follow-up since the way he formed his initial question didn't help him in learning what he wanted to learn. He panicked a little and glanced around. Since he was so focused on the food, he didn't pay attention to how this place was decorated. What drew his attention this time was a fairly big photo on the wall near the entrance to the kitchen. It was the man he was just talking to and next to him was a teenage boy. Judging by the chef's appearance it couldn't have been taken too long ago. The good thing was that it was a confirmation that this was the person he hoped to meet, but he still didn't know how to proceed further without seeming too rude about wanting to get a scoop.

"Who is that boy in the photo?" he asked the first question that came to his mind just so that he wouldn't be standing there in an awkward silence, but after repeating it again in his mind he actually found himself a little curious about it.

The chef looked too young to have a son this age and the age gap was too big for them to be romantically involved.

"Oh. He's a friend. I'm surprised you haven't heard about him. Are you not from Vermilion?"

"What? No, no. I just moved here a month ago."

"Ah. That makes sense then. He's a bit of a celebrity to the people of this city but with news coming and going so fast, he's bound to be forgotten sometime in the future... Isn't that right Mr... journalist?"

"W-what?"

"Was I right? Because that was just a guess."

"I'm... I'm not a journalist. I hope to become one."

"It's probably not the story you were hoping for but I can tell you about this boy while you wait for your food."

"I... Alright. So the picture is..."

"I'll never forget him and he's not dead as far as I know so it's probably a weird idea but I'm hoping to keep his memory alive... Does that make sense?"

"I can't be sure unless I hear the story..." he said before taking out a notepad and a pen "Do you mind?"

"No. Go ahead. People probably won't care but if I found someone like you who is interested then maybe you'll also be able to pass this on?"

"I certainly will try."

"That's great. So, this story starts on a ship... Damn it. That reminded me that I haven't told the boys to prepare your meal. Wait a minute!" the chef yelled before disappearing behind the kitchen doors.

The man, left alone, looked at the picture once again.

He focused his eyes on what the boy was wearing and tilted his head as a sign of confusion while asking himself "Are those hospital robes?"

* * *

Kinda weird how I can write Pokemon stories without any Pokemon in them. I could probably have given this guy like a sidekick Lickitung or something but oh well.


	49. 42: Color of Future

Pokemon Tales: Red Chapter 42: Color of Future.

"Angie! Angie! Wake up!" the Admin was woken up from her sleep by Tarieli who kept calling her name.

Even though she was a bit disoriented, she taught herself to be able to quickly gather herself in such situations. By throwing her legs up and putting her hands behind her head, she was able to get herself to a standing position in one swift motion. She immediately scanned the area for signs of danger before even hearing out what the other girl had to say. Since there was no obvious threat she could notice, she glanced at Tarieli, hoping that it would be enough indication of the fact that she wanted to learn the reason of her needing to be waken up.

When the red-haired girl didn't say anything, instead staring at her with confusion after seeing her reaction, the Admin asked in order to speed things up "Why did you wake me up? Explain."

"I think there's something wrong with Red." she answered while pointing at the boy.

Angie turned her eyes towards him and immediately knelt down after seeing the state he was in. She couldn't exactly tell what he was going through but he was lying on the ground, looking like he was barely conscious. His skin turned pinkish-red and he was breathing heavily. After getting closer, the Admin looked at his face and his hands which were the only parts of his body that weren't covered by clothes. She gently lifted one of his arms because she remembered him scratching it before he went to sleep. It turned out that it was badly swollen, the origin of it all being probably some kind of bug biting him. She would be able to tell if it was the doing of a Pokemon but it must have been a regular bug so she wasn't sure how bad his condition was.

"We need to help him." she said after standing up.

Her first idea was to find a nearby body of water and wet a piece of cloth in order to deal with his fever. She was worried about leaving him with Tarieli who also wasn't in the best condition after receiving the leg injury but with how far they flew on Dragonair, there was hope that they were outside the territory Darkness Gang would want to search in order to confirm their deaths.

"I already used the band."

"What?" She looked at Tarieli with a dumbfounded expression.

"The snowstorm is over so I used the band to send a distress signal even before I realized that Red was in a bad condition. But we still can't be sure if the pilot will come here to help us."

"He will." Angie stated confidently "He must."

"Wait. What are you doing?"

"If he's in range, I need to use my communicator to get him here as fast as possible. I'll have to figure out how I'm going to get you two inside the helicopter but..."

"Wait! What if Darkness Gang intercept the signal and you give away our position? You could compromise the mission."

"I..." Angie didn't know how to respond to that.

Once again she looked at Red, imagining what kind of pain he was in but the point Tarieli was making was also a good one. She didn't know if what the boy was going through was so dangerous that she should risk all three of them getting captured or even killed. She finally settled to agree with Tarieli but she wasn't able to respond to her in anyway. She walked towards the end of the cave. When she was next to Red, she felt as if his eyes were following her every movement even though he probably wasn't able to see too clearly. She tried to convince herself that she did so because she was creeped out. Even the other girl was able to notice that it was something else but despite what she said, she also was conflicted about their course of action. That is why she thought that it would be best to sit in silence, not bothering the Admin.

"If he's going to come, it should take him about half an hour. I'm not sure what we're going to do after that." the red-headed girl said as if she was talking to herself but the other one still could hear her which caused her to slouch more in her sitting position.

. . .

Angie has been pacing anxiously in front of a set of doors for what felt like an eternity. Although it's been only a couple minutes, the time they spent waiting in the cave and the time they spent flying to the closest Team Rocket base caused her anxiety to build up so much that if she were to stop walking and sat down, she would probably pass out, however after allowing Red to go through what looked like extreme pain, she didn't feel it would be right for her to rest until she knew what was his condition. She could probably be in the room with the boy and the doctor examining him but she couldn't stop blaming herself for what happened to the boy, even though she couldn't have predicted him getting that bug bite and everything they did after that was what she would have considered to be the right course of action when it came to anyone else.

She wasn't able to properly organize her thoughts but the only reasoning that seemed to rise up was that she felt indebted to him after he saved her and like she should repay him by ignoring the rules. She's never done it for anyone and that always turned out to be the right decision so she should be thankful to Tarieli for pointing out that what she was doing was planning to do was the wrong course of action but she just couldn't. If Red were to die because of that half an hour of delay, changing the rules to accommodate for such situations would be the least of her worries.

"Angie... Angie! Angieee!" it took a really loud shout from Tarieli to get the Admin's attention.

The red-headed girl pointed towards the doctor who came out of the room to inform them about Red's state.

"How is he?! Is he going to be okay?!" Angie's voice cracked a little and she had to restrain herself from grabbing the doctor by the arms.

"Okay is a relative term. He's not going to die for now."

"What do you mean "for now"?!"

"Angie, calm down! Let him speak!" Tarieli tried to calm down the Admin since she was afraid the other girl would attack the doctor if she heard the wrong words.

"I mean that the condition he's in right now is bad and it will get worse with time. I don't know if we will gain anything from having that time. It wasn't just a normal bug bite. The bug carried a rare disease and since it's so rare no one ever tried to develop any medicine that would be able to get rid of it." it looked like Angie was about to punch him so the doctor said the next words as quickly as possible "There is a way! There's an equally rare plant and if I had it I would be able to prepare a drink that would destroy the virus in that young man's body!"

"Why didn't you start with that?" the Admin asked after letting out a sigh.

"Didn't you hear me? It's a very rare plant. It prefers warm climates so even during the summer it's almost impossible to find it in Kanto. It's the middle of winter. We would have to order a delivery from another region but it's hard to tell if the boy would be able to last till its arrival."

Angie controlled herself enough not to hurt the doctor and instead went over to a small table next to the door and kicked it, causing a vase with flower to crash on the floor.

"Angie!" Tarieli raised her voice again.

"What?" the Admin's tone made it clear that her anger hasn't subsided.

"If you just calmed down you would be able to realize that there's still one place in Kanto where you could be able to find this plant. Let's order one from another region anyway as a precaution but there's still another way."

Angie tried contain her emotions in order to allow herself to try and understand what Tarieli meant before the other girl would explain it and she needed only a couple seconds to reach what was definitely the same conclusion "Of course!"

. . .

In another part of Kanto, two girls were eating their breakfast in a large but mostly empty room. Despite most building around having modernized insides, the ones belonging to Koga looked more like the inside of his Gym, with scrolls on the walls, beautiful flower vases and sliding doctors guarded from the outside by lower ranked ninja. Normally one would be impressed by all of it but Blue didn't say anything and her behavior began to worry Janine.

"Are you going to eat that? I didn't ask what you liked and had this prepared but I could ask the cook to make something else." Janine said after noticing that Blue was staring at a piece of sushi she was holding with chopsticks for a long while.

"Oh no. The food is great." the other girl replied and quickly ate it, not wanting her actions to be perceived as rude "I just can't focus on food after hearing all those things from your father."

"I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?"

"I knew that my father was hiding some things but I didn't expect them to be something like this. Anyway, it seems that he feels somewhat responsible for what happened and since I'm his daughter the burden of that is also on me."

"You kinda remind me of myself." Blue said out loud the first thought that came to her after hearing Janine's reasoning.

"In what way?"

"I... I ate enough. I'm gonna go for a walk. Maybe it will help me clear my mind a little."

"Do you want me to come with you? You now know as much about Team Rocket as the leaders. That could make you a potential target." the ninja said while standing up and clenching fists while moving her hands back.

"I'll have my Pokemon with me. Besides, unless you have a spy in your clan there is no way that Team Rocket would know about me being in on their "secrets"."

"I guess you're right." Janine said while rubbing her chin "Still, promise me to be careful."

"I feel like I've been careful for a long while." Blue responded before leaving the room.

. . .

Blue tried to focus as she wandered the city and even though it seemed like she was completely in her own world, she was able to respond with a nod after hearing the security guard outside the walls wish her a nice day, but she probably wouldn't have realized that she was leaving the district if not for that.

"Where am I even going? It's not like I know this place well enough to know where I would like to... Maybe I just don't want to look at Koga and Janine after hearing everything?" she thought as she continued walking.

It took about half an hour for her to reach a part of the city she could recognized. She noticed the Pokemon Center where she was to stay before getting invited to the Gym Leader's home. Not far from this place was the Safari Zone where she caught Dasher.

"I was thinking about a change of scenery and that would be the furthest thing from all this snow..."

The Safari Zone was an area of around 20 square kilometers surrounded by massive walls and a big, glass dome that had to be supported by giant pillars scattered throughout the facility. The place had a system that created an artificial, jungle-like climate inside, allowing species of Pokemon, animals and plants to exist there even though the forests, mountains and water of Kanto weren't suitable for them. The entrance was a little pricy and people weren't allowed to bring their own Pokemon in but in exchange for that they were given a batch of special safariballs that would make it easier for them to catch the unusual species of Pokemon inside. Blue hadn't thought about what her sixth Pokemon should be but she thought that instead of walking around aimlessly it would be good the get focused on something and hoped that this focus would remain as she would turn her thoughts towards the things she wanted to work out in her head.

. . .

After paying for entrance and using the dressing room to change into clothes appropriate for the place she was about to visit, Blue left her Pokemon with the staff who handed her 20 safariballs. She attached a bunch of them to her belt in case she had to use one of them suddenly. She still didn't have a plan to catch anything but the balls could also be used for defense. If for some reason a Pokemon would attack her, throwing the ball at it, and capturing it even for a couple seconds, could help her escape the danger. She started walking forward but if she remained near the entrance a little longer she would overhear a conversation between members of the staff. One person approached the main desk while holding a tablet and pointing at the screen even though they were too far for anyone else to see.

"There's something wrong!" the person, a young man in a khaki uniform, yelled as he reached the other members of the staff.

"Calm down! What is going on? Don't go causing a panic." another person said while looking around to make sure that there weren't any guests nearby "We don't have anything weird happening on cameras. Did we miss something?"

"The glass! There's no cameras pointed at the glass ceilings but I just got an alarm that a part of it was destroyed."

"What?! I mean... I know we have a system in place to alarm us about something like this but I never expected it to actually..."

"I mean... It's so strong. It wouldn't happen unless something or someone attacked it on purpose and with a lot of power, right?" said a third person.

For a while the staff members stood around, unsure what to do in this situation but one of them stood up and hit the front desk "Alright! We'll have to check it out! We have drones. Send them out."

. . .

"It sure is nice to spend some time in this warm climate." Blue said to herself while wondering why no one came up with the idea to use the technology that made this place possible in order to create a summer resort that could be open year-round.

Sevii Islands were warmer than Kanto but they never got as hot as Safari Zone. Thanks to her last visit, the girl knew a little about what to expect. She could use panels placed on the pillars holding the glass ceiling in order to check planned times for artificial rain to fall in case she would need to avoid it. Additionally, the paths were laid out in such a way that one would have to stray from them quite a bit to run into the really dangerous Pokemon. She unconsciously went another way than during her previous visit but when she realized that she had a quick look around and surmised that this path was probably as safe as the one she took last time.

"Hey, young lady!" a male voice called out to her.

She turned towards it and saw a middle-aged member of the staff sitting inside a wooden booth with the words "boat rental" written on it. The next thing she noticed were a lake behind the booth and the boats advertised by it. They were wooden rowboats. Any boat with an engine would probably disturb the Pokemon.

Since she still wasn't sure what exactly she was doing in this place, she approached the booth and spoke to the man "Yes?"

"How about it? Want to rent a boat? Of course you don't have to pay. Just make sure to come back with it or leave it at a similar rental place on the other side of the lake."

"I guess I could."

"This is your first time renting a boat in this place, right?"

"Yeah."

"Well, there's not much to it but watch out if you see a spot with a lot of bubbles because that means that a Pokemon is going to come up to the surface. This is a warning but it works in two ways. It allows you to avoid danger but also if you're lucky and a Dragonair flies over your boat it's possible to see a small rainbow above you. I've never been so lucky but who knows if it'll happen to you."

"Alright. I already planned to be careful and... Well, no point talking about it. Do I just choose whichever boat I want?"

"Well, they're all the same so there's not much "choosing"."

"Yeah. I just..." she was about to say that she had a lot of things on her mind but words like that could lead to him not wanting to allow her to use the boat since it would make it seem like she wouldn't be able to concentrate enough on spotting the bubbles he mentioned, so she withheld the truth.

The man gave her a couple pointers about rowing so that she wouldn't tire herself out and the girl went on her way.

. . .

"I..." Angie hesitated to say what was on her mind but the look she was giving Tarieli was enough to make the other girl understand what it was.

"You don't have to thank me."

"What? Thank you? No. It's exactly the opposite. It would be better if you stayed behind and kept me informed on Red's state."

"He's in good hands. Besides, this place is enormous and we have only a handful of clues to go on." Tarieli pointed out while stretching her hands outwards towards the exotic trees surrounding them as if she thought that the Admin wasn't able to see them until that moment "It'll be easier to search with two people. More than that... With all due respect, your authority should have allowed you to bring two hundred people here."

"This isn't an official mission. We both took a day off to this." Angie said, hiding however that it was the first time she used that privilege and that she was definitely the member of Team Rocket with the most vacation days accumulated over the years "I don't want to force too many members to do something like that. Besides, there's no way that it would go unnoticed."

"Unnoticed by the other Admins or ...?" Tarieli stopped herself because she quickly realized how ridiculous it was that they were even talking about that "Should it matter what we do if we try to save someone's life?"

"It's not "someone". It's Red."

Tarieli thought she had the Admin figured out but there was still a lot she didn't understand and it would be pointless to try and question her about it so she let the matter go and looked around once more "I'll try going in that direction. These giant pillars are numbered so if it turns out that we can't communicate with each other for whatever reason we should choose one of them to meet up."

"The 23rd one looks the closest. Alright. Let's try to get in contact in an hour. If we can't then let's meet there in two."

Tarieli nodded and the two went separate ways.

. . .

Blue quickly got the hang of handling the oars and could make her way through the lake without thinking too much about the movements of her hands which allowed her to put her mind to matters that she was concerned about.

She was worried about Red. Besides the fact that he got tangled up with Team Rocket in a major way, there wasn't much that she knew about his current situation but the information she had about this organization and the impression she got when she met them a couple months ago led her to believe that the boy was in some kind of danger, an opinion shared by Koga and others who knew as much as them.

The thing she had to ask herself regarding the situation her friend found himself in was if her involvement in it could affect what will happen in a significant enough way that she should try to help out. When Koga told her what he knew it sounded like he was considering lending a hand to the other Gym leaders because he would feel responsible for whatever Team Rocket planned to do. She didn't get all the details but the ninja claimed that he let Team Rocket's boss continue growing the organization because the original reason for its creation was one that Koga could sympathize with, but things were clearly getting out of hand and for quite some time the poison type trainer was allowing his pride to prevent him from joining forces with others.

In a way, Blue considered the two of them to be similar in that aspect. She didn't know how much influence she had over Red when the two of them traveled together but she was always worried that he liked to put himself in too much danger. If she remained his traveling companion there could have been a chance for her to stop him from getting himself into this kind of trouble. The problem with that logic was that when considering her own choices, ones that were always more carefully thought out, she kept thinking about how none of them were the right ones. It could be that if she was with Red, not only would she not be able to stop him but possibly she would even get in his way. Even when doing insane things, Red always would come out fine.

"Am I wrong? If I am... maybe there's another way of thinking. Nothing like Red but just something different… Why am I only realizing it now? Don't tell me that I'm so pathetic that I would be unable to do it without hearing about Red. He may have had some influence but more than what is going to help me change I should focus on… I… Is changing the right thing? I have a reason for why I did things a certain way. I can't just ignore it. That's…"

Her thoughts were interrupted when something hit the side of the boat and she noticed that she was so preoccupied with her problems that she didn't her that she reached one of the spots she was warned about by the rental shop man. After the boat was hit just once she immediately became completely aware of her situation and knew she had to get out of there before it would repeat. Whatever attacked her probably would be less dangerous once she would leave the lake. She quickly surveyed her surroundings and realized that she wasn't too far from the shore but she would have to pass her attacker in order to get there and avoid being hit again on the way.

She glanced at the place the Pokemon struck and concluded that it used something sharp that allowed for piercing attacks. It could very well be the horn of a Dragonair she was told to watch out for. Despite the perilous situation, she tried to remain calm and began to row. After traveling a couple meters, she tried looking back to see if she was being followed but that only allowed the Pokemon to surprise her when it attacked the side of the boat once again, although this time it was the opposite one. Her body reacted instinctively by trying to swat the attacker with the oar but the Pokemon noticed it and jumped over the boat to avoid. At that moment, Blue was able to finally see that she was dealing with a Seaking. She surprised herself when she suddenly felt a little relieved after realizing that the Pokemon could attack her easier if it tried using special moves. That didn't mean that she wasn't in danger. If the fish would keep on striking the boat with its horn, the holes would eventually allow water to get inside and cause it to sink, leaving Blue in a even more dangerous situation.

The girl began looking around, hoping to spot her opponent before it would reach her again. She saw her opportunity and struck with the oar at the right time, hoping to at least make the Pokemon dizzy enough to allow her to reach the shore, but the wood wasn't strong enough and the two forces pushing against each other caused the oar to split in half, making it even harder to control the boat.

"Hey! Do you need help?!" a voice suddenly called from the shore.

. . .

Knowing that the plant she was searching for grew in damp places, Angie decided that her course of action was to be on the lookout for any bodies of water in order to search their surroundings. She didn't have time to research the Safari Zone enough before coming there so she wasn't sure if there were any rivers or streams that could also prove to be good places to search. If she wasn't in a hurry to find the cure, she would most likely try to better understand how this place was build. For example, were the plants there before the walls that surrounded them or were they brought from somewhere else? She bit her lip to force herself to forgo all useless thoughts and kept on searching until she heard what sounded like splashing water. She walked in the direction the sound was coming from, by squeezing between trees and jumping over some bushes, and quickly reached a lake. A girl in a boat, struggling against something, immediately came into her view.

"What is she… No. I shouldn't concern myself with her. I found a lake so I should begin the search." she thought as she approached the water "Would the plant be growing on the shore? But isn't this too bright? Maybe… No. I can't stand it. That girl is making too much noise."

Angie wanted to tell her to be quiet but when she lifted her head in order to do this, she saw the girl break one of her oars while fighting a Seaking.

At the time she attributed it to Red having a bad influence on her but she couldn't stop herself from shouting "Hey! Do you need help?!"

Blue looked at the Admin with a confused expression. She was so bewildered because of the fighting that her mind expected another opponent despite the words she heard being friendly.

"Yes, please!" she yelled back after a short while but putting her hands next to her face made it hard to keep her balance when the next attack came.

Seaking repeated its pattern and Blue fell down, thankfully inside the boat. She hit her elbow which began to bleed a little but everything was happening so fast that she didn't really notice any pain while getting herself up in order to be able to see what her mysterious helper had in plan.

"What am I even… Ugh. Go, Dragonair!" Angie called upon her Pokemon who spiraled out of the pokeball and floated above its trainer while awaiting an order "When you see Seaking attacking the boat, use Dragon Tail on it!"

The water type Pokemon didn't realize that it became someone's target and tried to hit the boat once again, only to be spotted by Dragonair which quickly flew at it and send it upwards by hitting its underside with a tail infused with shining energy. It would be a good couple seconds before Seaking would hit the surface of the lake and that was enough for Blue's trainer instincts to kick in and make her throw one of the safariballs at the fish. Right after that, she reached for the unbroken oar and used it in order to catch the ball before it would sink to the bottom of the lake. Once it was in her hands, she realized that it must have stopped flashing while still in the air and that it meant that she managed to catch Seaking. She felt like sharing the news with her savior even though the other girl probably saw everything that happened. When she turned around, she saw that Dragonair sloppily grabbed onto a part of the boat with its tail and was pulling it towards the shore where Angie was awaiting their arrival with a stern expression on her face.

"What were you even doing in a place like this without a Pokemon?" the Admin asked once they were finally in front of each other.

"A better question is; what you were doing here with a Pokemon?" Blue responded although immediately realizing how rude it must have sounded, especially after the said Pokemon saved her "Uh, sorry. I'm grateful that you helped me out."

"So this is what I get for helping others. He really is a fool…" Angie said out loud what she was thinking.

"Sorry?"

"Oh. You're still here. Hmm. Pay up."

"Excuse me?"

"I saved your life. Is your life worth only a "sorry"?"

"I can't say that I ever stopped to consider my own worth. Not in this sense at least. How about… this?"

Blue gave Angie the safariball with Seaking inside.

"I want a sixth member for my team but I already have Tori so I don't need another water type."

The Admin attached the ball to her belt and reached towards Blue with her hand before saying "More."

"What do you mean "more"?"

"You basically just said that this Pokemon is useless for you. Surely you can offer something better."

"I… I don't really have anything else but… If you're here then that means you're probably after some Pokemon. I could help you catch it. I already did catch one for you. How about it?"

Blue didn't even notice that the danger she found herself in and the conversation after that were perfect distraction from her worries, even though that wasn't exactly what she hoped to achieve by visiting the Safari Zone.

"I'm not searching for a Pokemon." Angie hesitated a little about whether she should reveal her goal but the clothes she was wearing, after leaving the winter ones near the entry point, didn't have Team Rocket logo anywhere on them so she thought it would be safe to try and get a free helper "I'm trying to find a rare plant. I need it in order to cure… someone."

Red couldn't exactly be called her underling which left the Admin a little confused how she should have referred to him.

"Oh." Blue das a little surprised by this reveal "I don't know much about wild plants but I traveled with someone who tried to teach me about them so I may have some helpful insight. Pleased to be working with you."

Blue noticed that this other girl was a bit grumpy but it was probably because the plant was meant for someone important and that was something that she could sympathize with. That is why she wanted to proceed with the "kill them with kindness" type of attitude.

"My name is Blue, by the way."

The Admin blinked quickly a couple times while wondering if the weird name was a coincidence but she didn't want to take too long and make the other girl suspicious so she responded "I'm Angie."

. . .

"Of course. Caves. Now that you said it, it makes complete sense." Angie complimented Blue after she pointed out what kind of places would be humid and dark at the same time.

"No problem. I'm happy to help." Blue answered and immediately felt that there was something wrong with the way she responded.

She felt like it has been quite a while since she went out of her way to do something for someone else and that in turn she was the one being helped out all the time. When she considered that on a bigger spectrum her whole journey was actually meant to help her parents but until she reached her goal of being able to support them, she couldn't stop feeling like she didn't really do anything of matter. She thought that maybe doing small favors, like the one she was doing for Angie, would allow her to feel better about it.

"Is there a map of this place? It would be quicker than just trying to blindly search for caves."

"I'm not sure. The person handling the boat rental seemed to have some interesting tidbits about the lake but I wonder if they're supposed to know only about a certain area or if one of them would be able to give us some pointers."

"What do you mean by "one of them"?"

"There is another place like that on the opposite side of the lake. Actually, that's where we've been walking towards. Besides trying to get hints, I need to inform someone that the boat was too damaged to use it any longer."

"Huh. You sound like you're well put together. I like that."

Blue stopped and looked at the Admin with a worried expression "You're not hitting on me, are you? Because I've already disappointed a couple people…"

"Hitting on you. Wait… You mean like in a…" Angie stuttered after feeling that this girl she just met did what seemed impossible and made her blush "No! No way! Hitting on people is the absolute last thing I want to do!"

"Okay. But you probably shouldn't protest so much. Kinda makes me think that you're not being exactly truthful."

"Don't test my patience for jokes."

. . .

After visiting the boat rental booth and borrowing a rough map of the Safari Zone, the two girls went on their way. They managed to search two caves and not find what they're looking for when Angie realized that it was time for her to contact Tarieli. She decided that trying to do it discreetly would seem suspicious so she did in front of Blue.

"What was that?"

"Well, you didn't think I would try to search such a big place alone? I have someone else helping me."

"Yeah. That makes sense. Maybe we should also try to split up."

Angie looked at her with surprise and asked "Do you think I trust you enough to do that?"

"What? I'm sorry if this sounds wrong but, what kind of attitude is that? You're immediately assuming that I'm going to leave even though so far I gave you no reason to think that way."

"I'd much rather go with "doubt and verify" than trust. I gave people enough chances in the past and… Well… It doesn't matter. We're not splitting up. End of discussion."

Blue didn't appreciate the last phrase. She didn't necessarily want to learn more about Angie but it seemed like stopping a conversation in such a way was worse than not having it at all. Then again, she thought about various times during which she chose to hide her own thoughts from others and felt that she couldn't judge Angie for her behavior. But maybe that was a step in the right direction. Speaking her mind instead of putting things off and hoping that they'll work themselves out later.

"Alright then. If you don't want to split up then we won't. Let's just try to find the next cave which should be somewhere around there." Blue said while pointing towards what looked like a rock spire high enough to be visible above the trees.

It took them less than a minute to get there but when they arrived, Blue immediately put her hand in front of Angie's chest after noticing that they weren't the only ones there.

The spire was part of a bigger rock formation with various parts reaching different heights. A lot of them were flat making the whole place look like a weird set of stairs. It looked like the entrance of the cave was halfway up the spire. Not only would the girls have to climb up in order to get there, but also face the groups of Scythers and Electabuzzes gathered in front of the rock formation for some kind of ceremonial battle between the leaders of each pack.

"Damn it. Even if I use both Sandslash and Dragonair I'll have trouble against this many opponents. Seaking isn't going to be of any help in this terrain."

"Maybe we'll just try another cave and come back later?" Blue suggested while peeking at the battle from behind a shrub.

"No. Time is of the essence. It's not just the two of my Pokemon. There's also me and you. With four of us there must be a way to get up there and look for the plant."

Blue surveyed the area and her immediate thought was "Well, I know what Red would do in this situation but that's not something I would do."

She corrected herself a second later. It wasn't the matter of her not wanting to do it but rather feeling like she couldn't allow herself to do it. There was a chance of her getting hurt in the process and while she wouldn't mind a broken bone or two, since that happened to her a couple times while she was living on Sevii Islands, it could lead to her having to stop her journey in order to recuperate and she didn't know if she could waste any time, especially since she was already considering a detour regarding Red.

"You have a plan." Angie announced after realizing that the other girl was in deep thought "Tell me what it is. I'm prepared to do the hard part."

"Well… I… I wouldn't say that any part is easy… It's just…"

Angie let out a sigh and stood up.

"I guess you already helped me out quite a bit. You went through some bad stuff earlier and you're not ready for any more thrills. That just means that I'll have to deal with them directly."

"No. Wait. I want to help."

"I don't mean to sound rude but damn it… decide already what you're gonna do!"

. . .

A couple years ago, on the Sevii Archipelago, a certain accident happened. It was a summer festival so people from each island gathered on Island Two in order to celebrate it. Since everyone wanted to share their happiness with other people, almost all adults prepared some kind of dish made from their own crops, seafood or animals. Blue wanted to help her parents but everything was so busy that they told her to stay away, afraid that she would be trampled by all the people running between cooking stations. She quickly noticed that all the other children were in the same situation as her.

Another girl proposed that until the food would be ready, they could go play at the beach. Blue wasn't really interested in that but she didn't want to be left alone so she went there with her and a bunch of other children. Even though she was there with them, she didn't really engage with any activities. She didn't even talk to anyone. The most she did was smile a little when she saw a boy her age get embarrassed when an older girl took off her shirt in order to reveal a bikini top underneath it. She took a look at a group trying to make a sandcastle and then at others playing with a ball. There wasn't too many people in the water since the water was still kind of cold and some probably just didn't want to eat the dinner while wet.

She stared off into the distance and by proxy at the people trying to swim in the waves. Her eye was caught by a boy who suddenly went underwater. She thought of how stupid it was to dive without regarding how big the waves were that day. A couple seconds passed and the boy didn't surface. Even though she didn't bring a swimsuit, even though she wasn't a good swimmer, even though she could yell for someone else to do it, she started running and after that swimming. The children noticed her moving past them but no one was sure what she was doing, not even herself. People sometimes say that their body moved on its own during a perilous situation but the truth is that the initiative to do something always come from you.

Blue remembered finding the boy underwater, grabbing him and swimming towards the surface but after that her mind went blank. When she finally came to, she could see her parents, a local doctor and a couple of kids looking at her. The doctor stretched her eyelids and opened her mouth before allowing her parents to talk to her while also telling the other children to give her some time.

"What happened?" she asked.

"From what we've been told, you tried to save a drowning kid. He's alright now, by the way…" said her father "…But you couldn't hold your breath long enough. Thankfully, after you went to save that boy, other people noticed that something was wrong and helped both of you."

"Are you angry?"

"Well, yes and no." answered her mother "Of course we were worried about you but if you didn't decide to take the risk that boy could have ended up dead."

"We're not saying that taking a risk is necessarily a good thing but sometimes It's better to throw caution to the wind and just do something." said the father.

"I don't get it. Do what?"

"Whatever it is you want to do." explained the mother "You're still young now and you want to spend time with us and help us out with everything but this is an example of you turning your thoughts into actions."

"But I… I didn't know if I should do it and I did it and I almost…" Blue was on the verge of tears.

The father picked her up and while holding her above himself said "That's why you have to ask yourselves if what you're doing is worth the risk. More often than not the answer is going to be "yes", if today is anything to go by."

. . .

"When did I become a coward?" Blue thought as Angie was preparing to attack "I've pushed Red away two times. I've chosen an easier way towards money while fighting the guardian. I justified all these things by thinking I was doing it for my parents but… they wouldn't want for me to torture myself in order to help them out. They want me to be happy, I want to be happy, and right now I want to help Angie get that cure."

"Can you serve as a distraction?" Blue asked the Admin who first looked at her with surprise but decided not to question the other girl anymore.

"Let's hope this works. Dragonair, Sandslash, Let's go!" Angie announced while running out of the bushes and throwing her pokeballs so that they would land next to the fighting Pokemon.

Both of the groups turned their attention towards their surprise guests but it seemed like most of them preferred to stay put until they would receive a signal from their leaders. That made Blue's part a little harder. She ran between the trees and approached the rock formation from the other side. She started climbing it, at first completely hidden from anyone's view. She could hear Angie shouting commands at her Pokemon so she knew that at least the other girl didn't allow herself to get hurt. After a while she reached a place that she judged to be at the same elevation as the cave, which meant that she had to make her way around the spire in order to get inside.

She wanted to keep her eye on what was happening below in case something would happen to Angie but she also had to be careful not slip up and fall. She managed to get inside the cave seemingly without being noticed. Considering that it was inside a rock formation high above ground there wasn't actually that big of a chance for the plant to grow there and the cave itself wasn't as big as she expected it to be. On the other hand, it was definitely dark and damp which were the conditions the necessary conditions for it to grow even though it also needed a tropical climate.

"I should somehow signal to Angie that… Wait a second. This is it!"

Blue picked up the plant and a small amount of earth it was growing in and quickly hid it inside her storage pad so that it wouldn't get accidentally damaged. What she didn't realize was that her excitement caused her to yell after finding it and when she turned around in order to leave the cave, she saw one of the Scythers climbing inside. There was no time judge the Pokemon's intentions since, if they were bad ones, even a second of wasted time could lead to her only way of escape getting blocked. She ran straight at it, dropping down to the floor of the cave, hoping that she could slide past it and avoid its blades if it tried to stop her with them. She managed to pass it but she had to get up in order not to fall after reaching the exit. The bug couldn't completely reach her but it was still quite fast. It moved its blade horizontally when spinning around and the tip managed to catch Blue's arm. The pain was so sudden that the girl stumbled and fell. She barely managed to grab onto a protruding piece of rock about two meters down from the entrance of the cave but she still had around five times as much distance to the ground and she couldn't traverse it with just one hand.

"Looks like this time the risk wasn't worth it. At least I finally got over it at the end…" she said to herself as she saw the Scyther approaching from above and felt her hand lose grip on the rock.

She let go and felt at least one of her ribs break as she landed. However, she suffered less pain than Angie who, unexpectedly for both of them, broke the fall. She didn't break anything but she dislocated an ankle and damaged one of her arms when Blue's weight caused her to hit the ground with it. Her back also didn't feel too well but the two girls had to somehow get up since the Admin's Pokemon weren't able to keep all their opponents at bay. Angie was mad at herself for doing something that led to so much pain but even more at the fact that she couldn't comprehend why she did it.

"I have another plan." Blue stated, taking a break to cough up some blood before continuing "Do you remember which ones are the leaders?"

"That one and that one…" Angie pointed out two Pokemon "But what are you…"

Blue flung her bag so that it would open in mid-air and create a rain of safariballs above the two Pokemon, making it so that they would be hit even if they tried to dodge. Since they were already fighting before the girls arrived, they were more weakened than the other ones and were easy catches. When their leaders suddenly disappeared, the two groups fell into disarray and became easier targets for Dragonair's and Sandslash's attacks. They didn't even have to beat them all. Once a bunch of them passed out, the other felt it would be better to retreat into the forest. The girls waited a couple seconds, breathing heavily, waiting for their enemies to come back but when they didn't, the two of them quickly sat down.

"The plant?" Angie asked with a worried tone.

"I have it."

They couldn't help but smile after seeing what they were able to achieve by working together.

Sandslash picked up the bag and safariballs containing the caught Pokemon and brought them to Blue. She took out the pad, which thankfully wasn't damaged when the bag hit the ground, and took out the plant before giving it to Angie.

"Well, I'll be on my way." Blue said while slowly standing up.

"Wait. That's it?"

"I helped you out just as I promised. As much as I would want to stay and get to know you a bit more, I think I need to visit a hospital. I'll try to find someone from the staff and if anything happens I can use these new Pokemon to protect myself."

"I see. I probably should call Tarieli and let her know where to find me. I don't think I'll be able to walk by myself and you're in no condition to help me out."

"I wonder… Will we see each other again? You're a strong trainer. Does that mean you're gonna participate in the Pokemon League?"

"Well, no. I'm a different type of trainer. But the league… It's about half a year away… I wonder…"

Blue looked at her for a while, confused about the concern she could see on Angie's face.

"Good luck either way." the Admin said, not wanting to take up more of Blue's time.

"Thanks. And I hope that this plant will be able to help whoever you're gonna give it to. Bye."

Angie watched Blue's back until she disappeared between the trees before going "Okay. Now to contact Tarieli and… What is it, Sandslash?"

She noticed the armadillo standing amongst the safariballs with a confused expression and after seeing its worried face she quickly realized what it meant.

"Oh… I wonder which one it is."

. . .

Blue suspected that she could encounter another antagonistic Pokemon but she actually avoided it as much as she could. She was nearing the boat rental booth when a visibly angry Pinsir noticed her and decided that she was the perfect target for its fury. The girl grabbed the two safariballs and it was then that she noticed something was wrong. It was a small difference so sometimes it was hard to realize but one could tell if a pokeball contained a Pokemon or not because of a slight change in weight between a full and empty ball. One of the safariballs was empty so she threw only the other one. The Pokemon that came out was Electabuzz. It gave her a weird look which made her suspect that it wouldn't want to listen to her immediately after being caught, but when it looked at its opponent, it suddenly became ready to face the bug in battle.

"Ah. I haven't checked what attacks you know! " Blue panicked a little when seeing Pinsir running at her new partner "Just show me what you can do!"

Electabuzz did a backflip, right as Pinsir was about to grab it with its horns, and used Iron Tail to send its foe flying. Not giving the bug a chance to rest, it ran up a tree and from there jumped toward Pinsir to deliver a Thunder Punch that sent it into the ground, causing it to pass out.

"Wow! You're not only strong but also fast and nimble! You'll be a great addition to my team, Buzz!" Blue praised the Pokemon which had to turn around to face away from her since until that point it didn't know that it could blush.

. . .

Later that day, a worried Janine jumped between rooftops and reached the hospital, where Blue was residing, in record time.

"Are you alright?! What happened?!"

"It's a long story, but don't worry. My broken rib should heal in a month as long as I don't act too wild and they should let me out of here tomorrow."

"I was right to worry about you. You said that you wanted to clear your mind!"

"I did do that. I know what I'm going to do from now on."

"Yes? May I know…"

"If your father is going to join forces with other leaders then I want in. If not then I'll try doing it on my own. Either way, my current goal is to find out what happened to Red and help him in any way I can."

"But… What about collecting badges? You don't know how much of time this will take you?"

"Don't you worry. I'm not giving up on trying to win the Pokemon League. It may sound greedy but I'm not going to give up anything anymore."

"I respect your resolve." said the kunoichi "If It's going to be necessary, I'll help you to convince my father."

"Thanks." Blue said, showing a honest smile.

. . .

Meanwhile, in another part of Kanto, Tarieli once again was observing Angie's impatience as they sat in front of the room where the doctor was working on healing Red. The boy's condition got worse during the time they were gone so the two of them were glad that it didn't take them too long to find the cure and bring it back although Angie was so anxious that she would probably be pacing once again if not for her ankle and the back pain.

After half an hour, the doctor came out. He looked at them in silence before giving them a smile and a thumbs up. Disregarding the pain, Angie rushed inside.

"Is he awake?" Tarieli asked.

"That's right." the doctor answered.

"Then it's best we give them some time alone."

. . .

Angie's breathing was sped up after she stormed into the room but when she saw Red lying in bed and looking at her with confused eyes, she calmed herself down and decided to try using a nonchalant tone "So, you're awake."

"Yeah. Thanks."

"W-wha…?"

"The doctor told me that you and Tarieli went out of your way to find the cure for me."

"That damn old man…" Angie said quietly while clenching her fist and side-eyeing the doors.

"I'm not even an official Team Rocket member so I'm glad…"

"I guess anyone would be happy to be alive."

"No, silly. I'm glad that I misjudged you. After we had our conversation I was conflicted about whether that was what you really felt but if you did then we wouldn't be having this conversation right now."

"What are you trying to say?"

"That you're a good person. Maybe not "nice" but definitely good."

"It's not… I just did because you saved me in the past!"

"But you didn't seem to feel that you owed me anything. Isn't this just an excuse you made up to justify why you would get yourself so beat up for someone else?"

"No! This happened because I was trying to save someone els…"

"What was that?"

Red couldn't help but have a big smile on his face after seeing that Angie realized that she couldn't pretend anymore.

"I… Here, take this."

"A pokeball? But It's all green and brown."

"I have some bad memories regarding this Pokemon so I'll let you keep it. Like a get well soon gift or something."

"Gift?" Red asked, wondering if there was something he was forgetting "Wait. Speaking of gifts, when is Bonding Day?"

"Umm… I guess It's this less than a week away but besides it being a free day, there's nothing going on. And I Don't even take free days… with some exceptions."

"We can't have that. I'll try to do something. I don't think many people that would go along with it but I'm sure Green, Nets and Otari will agree to throwing a small party."

"But, are you okay? You don't need to rest?"

"No worries. I'm more durable than I look." he said and tried to prove it by getting himself up to a sitting position in order to strike a confident pose.

Angie didn't have a response for him. The girl stood up, turned around and left the room looking like she was in a hurry to get somewhere. Red wondered what caused her to act in that way, not realizing for a while that he wasn't wearing anything on the upper part of his body and that him getting up revealed his naked chest to Angie who wasn't prepared for such a sight.

"He's right. He's not that big but he's surprisingly muscular." the Admin thought while standing outside the room.

After that, she quickly looked around, worried that she might have said it out loud.

* * *

After over two months the next chapter is here. I was a little sick during December so I didn't write anything and most of this chapter was written in the last week or so. I hope that there isn't some big contradiction between what happens in the first part of the chapter and the rest since I took such a big break.

I don't want to say that this is my favorite chapter since I probably enjoy the battle oriented ones(this one had a bunch of battles but I wasn't as descriptive as usual since they weren't the focus), but this is from what I remember the first chapter where I cried during writing it. This may be a lie and I could have probably cried already when writing another Blue-centric chapter but I can't remember. It's not that this story is anything special and I don't expect anyone else to have the same reaction but I've gotten attached to this character and whenever I was writing her I knew that it still wasn't the time for her to realize what was wrong with her so it was taking it's toll on me. Add to this Angie's development over this and the previous chapter an I'm a complete mess while writing at four in the morning.

I don't want to bore you so I'll try talking about only a couple things that bothered me. First off, Blue's parents. Even though Red is important for Blue and her current goal is related to him, I didn't want him to be the one to cause the change in her. Then I thought about making it about her parents and I kinda did, but it was more about how she herself was misusing the love she had for her parents and if they didn't have a big influence on her she probably wouldn't have this problem in the first place. I don't want to say that that scene where they talk with her was cliche but at least I felt a little weird having them saying basically only the right things. I needed that for the chapter but I try to stay away from that as much as possible. My characters rarely have cool one-liners or sound profound because that always seems fake. Most of the conversations are how I talk with my friends, just with less mean humor.

I wanted to do something more with the Safari Zone staff and the drones but there wasn't a right place to do it but Tarieli probably fought some of them off-screen.

If someone wants to reread this chapter after going through the quintessential Blue chapters(maybe there is someone who wanted to start reading from this chapter for whatever reason) then it goes something like this: 4, (10), 11, (S1), SS1-5, 17, 18, 30, 31, 32, (37), 40. You could probably skip the ones in brackets.

I don't want to jinx it but let's hope that the next chapter doesn't take me so long. And what can you expect from it? Of course Bonding Day is drawing near, but after a chapter focusing on Red and another one focused on Blue it's time for Green to "shine". He played second fiddle in Alex's arc but he's a big boy now and can take on a chapter on his own. But don't worry, he won't be alone.

Red. Team: Eevee, Charmeleon, Raichu, Gloom, Pidgeotto, Nidorino.

At hand but not officially his: Scyther.

At Team Rocket Base: Gyarados.

Badges: 4

Green. Team: Jynx, Jigglypuff.

Stasis: Venusaur, Nidorina, Hitmonlee, Vulpix, Horsea.

Badges: 3

Blue. Team: Weepinbell(Bell), Blastoise(Tori), Zubat(Ken), Graveler(?), Ponyta(Dasher), Electabuzz(Buzz).

Badges: 3

Alex. Team: Ditto, Vaporeon, Jolteon, Flareon.

Angie. Team: Dragonair, Sandslash, Seaking.

Peter. Team: Dodrio, Haunter, Gengar.


End file.
